Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Weather and Haul Wind ❯ Chapter 4 ( Chapter 4 )

Gundam Wing Fan Fiction by White Wings

AU Fan Fiction

Rated for language and violence

Disclaimer:

“I refuse to write anything here concerning the fact that the names of the characters belong to someone else!

Its ridiculous, all the readers KNOW that already! Sheesh!”

 

Weather and Haul Wind

Chapter 4

 

All signs of the storm had passed by morning, it had swept its course and vanished, leaving behind flooded streets, trashed harbors, and remnants of ships that were unlucky enough to be caught in its path. The Wing was not so lucky as to escape with no damage, but what little harm had been done was easily fixable. Heero quickly went about replacing the ropes that had snapped and worn out during the strong winds. He'd risen before the sun to check his precious ship, the rest of the Wing's occupants were still sleeping soundly where they'd fallen asleep the night before. Even Quatre, who usually got up with Heero, rolled over and went back to sleep this morning, leaving Heero by himself till about an hour after the sun peeked its head over the horizon.

 

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Wufei blinked his heavy eye lids open to the dim light of morning that was seeping through the window. He sat up on the edge of the chair and let the blanket, which had somehow wrapped itself around his shoulders during the night, fall into his lap. He rubbed his shoulder; he would have to remember not to sleep sitting in a chair again. His stomach rumbled and he glanced around the room, noticing that Heero wasn't among the other sleeping... persons. The little blond Guardian was tucked beneath a blanket at the foot of the rooms' only bed and Duo was fast asleep, curled up on the floor, still wearing the damp red dress that he'd been forced into. Wufei stood and crossed the room as quietly a he could manage, cracking the door open just enough to slip though, and then closing it easily behind him. He blinked at how much brighter it was outside of Heeros' room, it took his eyes a moment to adjust.

 

Wufei saw Heero practically hanging off the side of the highest yard by his feet, fiddling with the ropes that held the sail in place. The dark haired man's dexterity would never cease to amazing Wufei as Heero walked along a rope strung from the crow's-nest to the next yard where he began the process of checking the lanyards again. He wouldn't have thought someone who had obviously been accustomed to heavy labor would have the natural flexibility of an acrobat. He watched patiently as Heero went about his chores, mentally being impressed with the man. Wufei'd yet to see anyone else that could possibly be the crew of this ship besides Quatre, which meant that Heero sailed this rather large vessel all by himself.

 

Heero touched down on the deck of the Wing and noticed Wufei, who was leaning against the wall, and stared at him. The tall Dragon clansman nodded at the sailor and pushed himself away from the wall, meeting Heero half way.

 

“You sail this ship by yourself?”

 

“Mm.” Heero murmured

 

“You don't have any other crew?”

 

“Nn.” Again Heero murmured

 

There was silence between the two, neither one being particularly talkative. Wufei made the observation that Heero wasn't a morning person. He sighed.

 

“Where's the galley?” Wufei asked, receiving a questioning look from Heero.

 

“Why?” Heero replied, the first full word he'd spoken all morning.

 

“The least I can do is prepare a meal in thanks for your hospitality.”

 

Heero nodded, seaming to understand. He motioned the Dragon clansman to follow and lead the way below deck to a large room equipped with a wood burning stove and a variety of other utensils. It was obvious that the Kitchen, or the large dinning area that it opened up into, had never been put to use. Everything within it was new, the tables and benches were decoratively hand carved, and even the cabinets had the look of careful attention. There was a pair of hatches that opened directly into the cargo hold from the kitchen so that the cook would have easy access to the foodstuffs stored there. A lot of planning had gone into the building and arrangement of the galley. Once again Wufei was silently impressed. He was itching to ask Heero where he'd acquired such a ship but held the inquiry back for modesty's sake, and the fact that the blue-eyed sailor had already left.

 

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Quatre rolled over sleepily and then made a short drop to land square on his nose. He'd fallen out of bed. Sitting up he rubbed the offended extremity with a pained “mew.” He pouted at himself for a moment before spotting a still sleeping Duo curled up on the floor. He made his way over to his longhaired friend and then jumped on him. A startled cry escaped from the thin boy as he flinched sharply, curling into an even tighter ball as if he were expecting to be hit, or kicked. The little blond warbled out a questioning sound as he put his little hands on Duo's head softly. He hadn't been expecting such a response; Heero never reacted that way when he jumped on him!

 

The violet eyed thief eventually relaxed and sat up, shaking his head and blinking blindly in the dim light. Quatre laughed and latched onto the boys arm, giggling happily when his friend grasped where he was and whom he was with. Duo stood, Quatre dropping from his arm to the floor, and leaned against the wall for a little support, finding he felt a little dizzy. The little blond went to the door, reaching for the handle but found he was just a little to short for the task of opening it. He peeped at Duo expectantly as if asking him to open it for him.

 

On wobbly legs Duo eased himself to the door, telling Quatre to keep his pants on, knowing somewhere in the back of his foggy mind that the little beast didn't need to wear pants. He fumbled for the doorknob with one hand while holding his head with the other. Quatre wondered quietly on the floor, looking up at Duo with his big blue eyes full of confusion. His new friend was acting strange. Duo finally managed to find the latch and as he started to push it open it was pulled from the other side, dragging him and virtually throwing him into the chest of the one who'd opened the door from the outside. Quatre laughed when he saw Duo stumbling in to Heero and nearly dragging them both down to the polished wooden deck, he wanted to join the dog-pile too! He hopped around excitedly latching on to one of Heero's hands. The dark haired human wrapped his free hand around Duo's waist as the boy started to slide to the floor, his legs firmly braced on the floor for better balance.

 

“Hey!” Heero said in rather annoyed voice.

 

Heero raised the arm that Quatre was attached too and let the little creature latch onto his shoulders instead, needing the other hand as Duo started to sink further while mumbling something about not “feelin' `o good.” Quatre watched as Heero reach with his now free hand and hooked it under Duo's arm, pressing his forehead to Duos' and then swearing under his breath. Heero dragged Duo back into the room, Quatre warbling confused notes from his shoulder. Sitting Duo down on the corner of the bed Heero unlaced the dress that was still hanging damply from Duo's slim fame and pulled if off him while the longhaired thief complained weakly. Heero dug a clean shirt out of the drawers of the captains bed and slid it over Duo's head before pushing him over and then pulling the tick blankets up and tucking them around his shoulders. Duo tried to sit up and tell Heero that he was fine but the dark haired sailor would hear none of it, pushing the thief back down on the bed and placing a confused Quatre on top of the boys' chest.

 

“Stay... both of you.” He commanded and turned to run into Wufei who was coming in.

 

“I've... hey!” Wufei protested a Heero rudely brushed him aside, shoving the damp dress into his hands before stomping off.

 

“What am I supposed to do with this!” Wufei hollered after him.

 

Heero paused for a moment and then looked over his shoulder and growled “Burn it.” Before disappearing below deck once again, what a morning this was turning out to be.

 

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Heero returned to his room and lit the lanterns, flooding the room with more light than what was just seeping in from the door and window. In his hands he carried a small box and a mug of water. Wufei had disappeared to god knows where but Quatre was faithfully sitting on top of Duo where Heero had told him to stay. He gave the little Guardian a gentle pat on the head before turning his attention back to Duo. The longhaired thief was glaring up at the dark haired sailor with a look that told Heero he was not at all content with any of this business. Heero, of course, ignored the look and placed one of his hands on Duo's forehead, the other on his own. The fever was still high and Duo's skin was clammy, but despite that the young man still tried to protest.

 

“I'm fine, really. It's just a cold.” Duo grumbled as Heero turned and rummaged though the small box he'd brought back with him.

 

“Yes, a cold that makes you incapable of standing, let alone walking.” Heero said sharply, reminding Duo how he'd almost dragged them both to the floor earlier.

 

“Pish, I'd been worse.” Duo snorted defiantly and turned away from Heero.

 

“I don't doubt that, here take this.” Heero offered a small blue capsule and the mug of water to Duo, who glanced at it and then looked away in silent rebuff.

 

“I don' need no crappy meds. I'll be fine.”

 

“Just take it. It will help the fever go down faster.” Heero countered, quickly losing his cool composure, he forced the pill into Duo's hand.

 

Duo looked at the medication in his hand, sat up, and then threw it across the room. He crossed his arms and turned his fine-featured nose up, out right refusing to take it. Heero stood silently for a moment, fighting the urge to beat the boy, he didn't make a habit of helping ANYONE and Duo was just lucky that Heero had a weak spot for the incapacitated. He turned around and calmly reclaimed the blue pill from where it had landed near the desk and dusted it off. Crossing back to Duo's side of the room he offered it to Duo again, only to have his hand slapped away. The straw that broke the camels back, Quatre cringed and skitter to the foot of the bed, away from Heero's angry aura.

 

In one smooth motion Heero placed the pill on his own tongue, took a large gulp of water from the mug, and took hold of Duo's jaw firmly. Turning the reluctant thiefs' to face him, he then forced his lips to Duos. The young thief froze in shock and sat numbly as Heero squeezed the muscles under his jaw, forcing him to open his mouth, and then pushed the pill and the water down his throat with his tongue. The involuntary muscles in Duo's throat swallowed and Heero released the stunned boy. Wiping away the water that had escaped his mouth with the sleeve of his shirt, Heero placed the mug with the rest of the water gruffly in Duo's lap and ordered him to drink the rest then sleep before he stormed out of the room. His eyebrows knitted in annoyance he gave Duo a cruel glare over his shoulder before slamming the door so hard that the lanterns went out, leaving a dumbfounded Duo and a skittish Quatre in the semi-dark of the room alone.

 

Heero stormed out onto the deck and walked with a long, dramatic, mile eating, stride toward town before spotting Wufei coming towards him. The dark dragon hailed him as they neared each other.

 

“Where did you disappear to?” Heero asked, a blank look on his face, his temper calmed and his composure back in place.

 

“To burn the dress.” Wufei offered as a man came up behind him and tapped the black-eyed man on the shoulder.

 

“Where's this all goin'?” The man asked

 

“There.” Wufei pointed to Heero's Wing where it sat calmly swaying in the blue waves of the harbor.

 

“Right-o!” The man left, followed by two other men pulling handcarts loaded down with goods.

 

Heero gave the silent “what is going on?” look to Wufei as he crossed his arms over his chest. The corner of the dragons' mouth twitched in a momentary grin before he answered.

 

“I bought some supplies that the sip was in need of.” Wufei said

 

“Supplies?”

 

“Yes, what you had stowed away wouldn't have lasted us a week on open sea. I thought it best I purchase more.”

 

“Us...” Heero gave Wufei a steady look but said nothing more of it, he'd been planning to ask Wufei to join his crew anyway, and Duo wasn't in any condition to move. “Where did you get the coin to get the supplies, I have nothing that could even be bartered for that much food.”

 

“I put it on Edmar's tab.” Wufei smirked inwardly; he'd served his own justice to the pirate and knew that the dirty bastard deserved it.

 

Heero gave Wufei a curt nod and asked the black dragon if he would follow the supplies back to Wing. If Wufei were to be the cook he would proudly want to arrange the hold as he wished. That way the foodstuffs would be more easily at hand. With a sigh Heero sat down on one of the many random crates that littered the Larker Island harbor. He looked up and watched as a few lazy clouds floated aimlessly through the clear blue of the sky, perhaps they were remnants of the storm clouds from the night before, or maybe they were simply passing by on a different wind. Heero felt calm looking at them. He reflected back on earlier, how annoyed he'd been at Duo. He had never been very good a dealing with people and he knew that he'd been wrong to force him to take the medicine, but if he hadn't then he would have felt worse for the sake of having done nothing.

 

A soft mew attracted his attention away from the sky, a first he'd thought that Quatre had come off the ship and was about ready to panic but then notice that the bright golden eyes that were looking at him from the stone belonged to a pair of black kittens. They seamed to find Heero's pant leg amusing and were batting at the loose fabric playfully. One latched onto Heero's booted foot and hung off it for a minute before dropping back to the ground on top of its sibling. The little black duo couldn't have been more then a few months old, there bodies were lanky with new growth but they still had the slightly over-sized head and paws that said they had yet to grow to their full size. Heero picked up one in each hand, with a closer look he noticed that on had a small white spot on his chin as if he'd been lapping at milk, the other had a white ring around his right eye. They weren't identical but they were very close. He placed them back on the stone floor of the harbor gently and got up, walking back to Wing. The two kittens followed.

 

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The kittens followed Heero all the way back onto Wing and snuck into his cabin when he peeked around the door to make sure Duo was sleeping. He was, and quite fitfully, so the sudden pressure of two extra bodies hopping onto the bed didn't even cause him to stir. Quatre however jumped in surprise, he'd never seen cats before, he'd smelled them come in but even with his acute eyesight he'd been unable to make them out from the shadows in the room. The little back pair was equally confused by Quatres presence, never having encountered such a creature in all of their short lives. The trio inspected each other cautiously at first, sniffing noses and twitching ears went full throttle in the three-way investigation. Eventually each cat and the single Guardian came to the conclusion that the other was not a threat of any kind; in fact, they were better suited to be playmates then enemies. And so Quatre made two new friends and played happily with them on the floor for the better part of the afternoon.

 

Heero had gone down to the Galley to eat the now cold meal that Wufei had so graciously made, Wufei was in the cargo hold putting the last touches on the re-stocking of the supplies, and Duo was sleeping while Quatre an the kittens played together in the darkness of the sheltered room. All of this peacefulness was interrupted by the angry shouting of a mob of hug-over, battered and bruised, privateers that had collected on the dock that Wing was tied to.

 

Heero was on deck in an instant, closely followed by Wufei, and grabbed at the hilt of a sword that wasn't at his hip when he caught sight of just what was making suck a ruckus. Closely behind him he heard a sharp intake of breath that told him that his dark haired companion was equally shocked but the sight.

 

“Chang Wufei!” a loud angry voice rose above that of the mobs “Come out!”

 

The caller, on tall angry looking man with a heavy, well-muscled build and a full beard with thick curry hair that hung to his shoulders in a tangle of random curls. His eyes dark eyes glared up to Heero's blue ones with vicious intent. His cruel eyes flickered and caught a glimpse of Wufei, who was standing at Heero's shoulder, and his face twisted in a disturbing grin.

 

“There ya are, I believe ya got somthin' of min' `here boy.”

 

Heero glanced at Wufei who shook his head in a definite “no” before responding turning his gaze back to the curly haired man.

 

“I believe you're wrong, sir. No be on your way. You're obstructing my work.” He said coolly, giving his words an accompanying icy glare.

 

The pirate captain took a daunting step forward and the look on his face gave Heero a knot in the pit of his stomach, he didn't mean an actual “thing,” he meant Duo. Over his shoulder he whispered for Wufei to get the sword and dagger pair from his cabin, the dragon wasted no time in complying with the urgent request. Edmar was on the deck of Wing now, his crew crowding the portside plank. He stood very near chest to chest with the much smaller Heero by the time Wufei emerged from the Wing's captains quarters with the requested weaponry. The small messy haired sailor stood his ground bravely, or stupidly, and glared up at Edmar defiantly. He repeated his order for the man to leave but was not heeded.

 

“You got somthin' o min' boy, an' ya best be givin' it back.”

 

“I'm afraid I don't know what you're talking about.”

 

“ Tch, `ike hel' ya don't! I'm guna ask ya once more and then...”

 

“And then what you illiterate pervert? I'll remind you, you're on my ship not yours.”

 

Obviously that was the end of “mister nice guy” Edmar. He drew is blade just as Wufei threw Heeros to him and the clashing of steel reverberated off all the sails and stone walls in Larker's harbor. It was the signal of start of a brawl of more than fifty against two on the deck of Heero's Wing.

 

Wufei, as a member of the Dragon Clan, was trained in all sorts of combat including hand-to-hand and swordsman ship but he also has some marginal skill with mage-fire. He quickly disarmed on of the pirates who'd swarmed onto the deck and armed himself with the man's sword. Heero was eventually thrown into other short duels with pirates who invaded his ship and lost site of Edmar. A startled cry attracted the attention of the cook and captain as a group of pirates fumbled out of Heero's cabin, scurrying away as if they'd seen a monster. A quick glance at each other conformed it. Quatre had done his own part in the battle, keeping anyone who thought to check the captain cabin at bay. Somewhere in-between the mêlée and his own inward battle over his own fears Heero lost track of how many pirates he'd driven off or killed. He had thought to look for Edmar but couldn't afford to be distracted.

 

“HEERO!”

 

The blue-eyed sailor turned at the sound of his name and found it was Wufei, reaching out as if trying to push him out of the way from across the deck where he'd finished off most of the other pirates. The sharp and sudden pain in his shoulder sent Heero reeling over backwards, the sick smell of gunpowder and flint thick on the air. He hissed through clinched teeth as he hit the deck, grabbing at the bullet torn shoulder. Edmar was right on top of him then, the tip on his sword thrusting itself downward but only meeting the thick hardwood of the well-polished deck. After rolling out of the way of immediate danger Heero kicked upward, catching the larger man in the stomach and then launching him over the railing into the cold seawater below. Pushing himself up onto his feet his raced across the deck, ignoring Wufei's confused query as to his condition, and lopped the rope that held Wing to the dock off at the base of the knot. The elegantly crafted ship immediately started to drift out with the tide and the gangplank that lead to the dock creaked and then slipped off and fell with a splash into the blue ocean waters as Heero went about unfurling the sailed with one hand.

 

It wasn't until they were out of port and Heero had locked down the rudder to keep them on course. He sank down to against the wheel and let out an exasperated sigh. The blood from the bullet wound in his shoulder had stained his once white shirt red and now that the adrenalin had worn off he was starting to feel it. Wufei, who had wisely been staying out of the way, can over and helped him to his feet. Half carrying, half dragging Heero below deck to tend to his injury before he lost any more blood, a thought ran through Heero's mind as they descended the stairs.

 

“Where exactly did you burn that dress Wufei?”

 

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::Note from the Author::

“Thank you every one who has reviewed the first few chapters. I really appreciate it.

Hope you liked this chapter as much as the others. Keep reading and keep reviewing.”

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