Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Pepper & China Roses ❯ chapter 7 ( Chapter 7 )

Chapter 7

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Wufei was running down the hills like a mad man. It was absurd! This couldn't be happening to him!

His slipper clad feet, were showing no grace or skill. Just gliding him through mud and bramble with the grace of a duck. He was pale as parchment now, all he could hear was the boom of his own hearth and the thunderous trashing of his pursuer.
Never in his short life had he been so frightened! Not even when his dead grandmother had chased him out of her house. It was my own fault! I should have left the old bat's things alone!!

But his grandmama was not a fearsome warrior and Wufei was not responsible for her death. Back then his little feet took him with lightning speed to the safety of his mother's underskirt.

Now, the horror was almost at his heels! And there was no way out of this cursed forest.

He should have waited for the castle's tenant instead of wandering off into the woods.

No time for regrets now, all he could think of was to keep on running.

Reason said bye, bye and flew out the window ...or probably, got lost too in the woods.

The man he grudgingly came to respect and even admire in secret, was far from his mind right now, all he could think of was that he was right and his father was wrong! Ghost 'DO' exist and they had it in for him!

The sound was deafening. He felt the cold air wafting at his neck and with each glimpse behind he could make out the hulking body and hands like claws tearing into the under brush. Shadows of fangs gnashing at his feet and yellow eyes darting in and out of his path. There were so many! And 'he' was laughing!

Wufei's fight-or-flight instinct ran past him screaming like an onna two minutes ago.

Why me?! What did I do to deserve... ?

well he 'did' technically... kill the man. But, still!

"Why MEEEEEE!" he hollered when his slipper made a swishing sound

...and down into the gully, he fell.

He was 5, maybe 6 years old when his grandmother died. She was the kind of old lady the family tried to keep happy, not exactly because of her age, which was nearing the millennia according to the kids calculations. Certainly not for her gentle disposition, either. Wufei remember people calling her a 'Quilin' in the guise of a woman:

She spat fire from that creased old maw, had a lion head, a goat body and a dragon tail. (Wufei never saw the tail but he was shore it was back there, somewhere under all those robes).

Needless to say, they all bowed and nodded any time she started barking orders around. All but one feisty little toddler.

To the fearless little tot, she was a source of amusement. He never understood why anyone would obey the tinny old crone. She was not any bigger than him! Why could she have her way and little Wufei had to do so many chores and obey mama, papa, uncles, even aunts and cousins! Any one a head taller could boss him around, that meant everybody in that side of the colony.

So the brat in him vowed to make Quilin's life a little less happy.

From then onward, the old lady found her self in all kinds of predicaments thanks to her grandchild's antics.

Once he locked her into the bath house... for 4 hours, before a maid found the door jammed by a bench and heard the furious cane knocking on the door. Quilin came out with double the wrinkles and triple the temper.

The old lady suspected him every time and called him a Tengu, even if he had no nose as she claimed, but little Fei fei came scat free. His father's mother was no problem to him! After all, his mama went to the rescue anytime grandma threatened to slap a whammy on his rump.

In retrospect he probably deserved one, he was spoiled rotten and had an unhealthy appreciation for other peoples things. Specially the treasures she hid in her dwelling.

The people living in L5 colonies brought with them the culture, artifacts and beliefs of old China. So it was that seven days after she died, his grandmother was expected to return on that same night.

Everyone locked themselves in their rooms and white powder was dusted on the floor in the main room; a red plaque was placed on the front gate to make sure her spirit didn't get lost, even an altar was setup as welcome...

Fearless Fei fei thought this to be his golden opportunity!

He marched out of the nursery and into the main hall, everybody was sleeping, so he climbed over the sofa to escape leaving little foot prints in the flour; then up onto the altar he stopped to eat a few of the sweets they left for offering.

Later, he licked the candy off his chubby fingers while he skipped his way into the dead woman's room.

Midnight found him in the old crone's bed chambers. He loved the many trinkets and miniatures she collected and now that she was gone they were his! He played for hours, even broke a few.

All was quiet in the house when a set of footprints dragged into the powder, no feet attached, mind you...

The door creaked open, and Wufei turned around, nearly giving himself whiplash. In the doorway stood a cold reflection of his grandmother.

The poor boy felt the air around him cool until steam wafted from his mouth, the eyes staring him down felt completely wrong and something in his gut told him, his mind was about to shut down.

Two heartbeats later, she lunged at him with long nails and her mouth open impossible wide.

He didn't remember jumping out the window and running around the house screaming, nor did he remember his mother and father scared out of their minds, taking him to the doctor.

The old Doc said he was alright, just shocked by his grandmother's death, and sent him home to rest.

He did remember his father, two days later, telling him over and over again it was a nightmare and Jiangshi, ghost, Quilin and Tengu did not exist.

Mama said his grandma probably didn't mean him any harm, she was just upset to find him in her room and gave him a scare to teach him a lesson,

"Ghost are like that" she said.

His father said those were women's tales and he was a boy.

"Boys do not heed such stories!"

He believe him and grew up to philosophize on the power of folk tales over children.

Now in the hindsight of things...

He was sorry he didn't listen to his mother.

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Treize was baffled. There he was, the boy he dreamt of so long ago! He was dress differently but the ponytail and the almond-shaped eyes were unmistakable.

He ran his hand across the soft skin, marveling at the warmth and texture. Like one of his roses... just better? Yes much better, beautiful!

He was lucky the lake broke his fall, it was not that high a ledge anyway .

Treize jumped in right after him, followed by some of his uncle Luddo's 'dogs.' The mutts didn't help much, they swam around him while he pulled his catch out of the cold lake.

Now his 'catch' was bundled up in bed with him, the wood crackling in the fireplace was the only sound besides his soft snores.

Treize watched him sleep, while exploring the light body with bold hands. He spooned the boy onto his chest and twisted just so he could glimpse the long eyelashes and pouting lips.

"...hmmmmm" he felt like purring! He wanted to keep that sweet scent in his memory for ever! So he nuzzled the baby soft hairs at the base of the dragon's neck. His fingers found a patch of hair under the blanket and that made him laugh in delight.

He dear not go further, so his naughty hand climbed slowly back to the taught ridges of the stomach. There was still much to learn, he told himself while he rubbed his hip onto the pert bottom. The boy groaned softly and Treize was loath to open one eye to check if he was awake.

'Nop, still sleeping'.

With a vulpine grin on his face he squeezed his arms gently around the boy.

Why did he run?

Silly thing looked afraid and nothing got Treize more interested than a game of tag.

He had a foggy memory of the angry boy from a duel long ago, trying to kill him?

He laughed, he held no grudge; maybe the little dragon didn't know this and was afraid he might not be forgiven this time around.

So they played tag and...

It was fun until ...well, the 'dogs' got into the game, so did a possum, a badger and probably every other forest critter in that boy's path.

He laughed out at first, they never saw anybody stir such havoc in this quiet forest.

Then the dogs got a bit too much into the game, and he was hard pressed to keep them from taking a bite out of his dragon. He eve tossed a couple out of the deer's path to keep them away from his the boy.

His uncle called them dogs but everybody new they were home-raised wolves. A fat wolf is still a wolf.

"they make good watch dogs, so they are dogs!" the old man said.

"Don't worry, my pretty. They wont bite you now"

The culprits lay sprawled around the bed, looking up alerted by his voice, they gave him remorseful looks. They obeyed his every signal, for reasons only they new. Uncle Luddo claimed he had fairy's touch. Treize didn't dwell much on it, he didn't dwell much on anything lately.

He shook his head lightly and smiled at the arrange of paws and furry bellies around them. His hand stroked lazily over a strong thigh. So much strength packed in such a little body.

"Stay? please?"

Treize whispered into the ebony mane, he kissed the supple features wishing with all his hearth that when morning came his dragon would be here still.

Just in case he squeezed him a little closer and glanced at the wolves in mute communication, the big silver glanced back in understanding.

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Tbc.

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http://www.chinatown-online.co.uk/pages/culture/customs/funeral ceremony.html

http://web.cn.edu/kwheeler/monster_list.html

Jiangshi or hopping corpses:

Are corpses whose touch can kill a living person instantly. Also the Cantonese name for vampires.

(xi xie gui or "blood-sucking ghost" in Mandarin)

Tengu (Bird Goblins).
Playfully malicious Oriental spirits thought to plague Buddhist monks with thefts and pranks. They often took the form of crows or kites. "The Tengu road" refers to the path taken by hypocritical priests. They steal children and molest woodcutters in rural regions, but entertain some guests lavishly in their great, gold-roofed palaces. They could take on human forms, but with unusually long, beak-like noses. Chimera
In Greek mythology, the Chimera is a monster, depicted as an animal with the head of a lion, the body of a she-goat, and the tail of a dragon Since Kirin or Quilin was the only name I found for the chinese Chimera... well, it stays.