07-Apr-01
Title: T'ien Lung Ge (Celestial Dragon Song)
Authors: Laekin and bonnejeanne
Category: Action, Adventure, Romance, ANGST
Pairings: 1x2, 3x4x5 (Combinations there of)
Rating: R (Adult Situations)
Disclaimer: Not mine, no money being made or sought here.
WARNINGS: LEMON. Angst. A very young Original Character and at least one heartrending scene with dying children.
NOTES: What is being posted here was written by myself and Laekin together, just as everything else in the Companions of Fate series. The plot is hers, with a few small contributions by moi; she writes for Quatre, Trowa, Duo and T'ien. My contributions are confined to Wufei and Heero and some brainstorming. The writing sessions for this were between October 19 and December 6, 2000.
When he wanted to, T'ien could move like a little ghost and he did so now. Flitting along in Wufei's shadows, the little boy made it a combination of a game and also a way to study this person who reminded him of the Master but had a kinder air about him.
If he was watching closely, Wufei would notice that little T'ien's *games* were a lot like watching a young tiger play. They involved skills that in later years would be put to more lethal uses, but for now it sort of looked like a kitten trying to track a very large ball of yarn.
Wufei found his bag from the trip from Earth where he expected - just inside and near the front door, where the driver had left it. He opened the bag and took out several things, including the paints and brushes, setting them on the floor to one side as he went through some other items.
The next things he took out were small packages of medicines and several bundles of dried plant parts. He took some pieces of what looked like strips of bark and carried them to the kitchen, finding a suitable pot, which he filled with water and put on the heat to boil, with the bark immersed in the water.
T'ien cocked his head to the side, curious. His eyes darted between the brushes and paints and the bag on the whole, natural childish curiosity almost getting the better of him. Then he remembered the very stern lecture he got from Heero about the importance of privacy, specially the importance of respecting a locked bedroom door, no matter how badly you want a glass of milk, and just because you can pick it open doesn't mean you should.
T'ien frowned a little. Heero never had explained what Duo had been doing to him... pooh well.
Turning away from the bag with all its goodies, T'ien went back to tracking his prey. The little boy jumped across the falling sunbeams, played tag with Wufei's shadow and finally stopped in the kitchen doorway watching the young man put the pot on to boil and then the bark in the water???
Now that was curious.
Walking on into the kitchen, he stepped up to Wufei, stopping himself from just grabbing a pant leg, like he did with Duo and Heero, he stood beside Wufei, rocking up onto his toe tips so he could try to peek over the edge of the pot.
~What'cha doing?~
Wufei tapped the boy's nose lightly. "Steam burns," he said.
He looked down at the child and sat in a chair in the kitchen, beckoning to the boy to come.
T'ien wriggled his nose indignantly and a little bit of baby dragon fire flared in his pretty dark eyes. Then he seemed to remind himself that Wufei was a much larger dragon and was not to be pushed. Those bright, dark eyes tracked Wufei's progress to the chair and after a moment's consideration, T'ien trotted on over obediently.
~Yes?~
"That is astragalus bark," Wufei said, then used a pencil and piece of paper on the table to draw the characters for it. "It's a tonic. For you."
T'ien quirked a brow at Wufei, then his little fingers started to fly... stopping in mid-sentence, T'ien sucked on his lower lip, reminding himself that not everyone understood his little language. Carefully taking the pencil from Wufei, T'ien began to write in standard, then he stopped and with a sassy little grin at the young dragon, he began to write in characters.
~For me? But why? I feel fine now. I was just a little achy and sleepy but the nap worked. Heero and Duo insist upon naps. I don't like naps. I miss all the interesting stuff that way.~
Wufei nodded. "I understand. I did not like taking naps at your age either. And I am glad you feel fine now. But a tonic is not something you take only when you feel bad. It is something you take to strengthen your body so that you won't feel as bad later. This tonic is good for your chi, your life energy. You will be drinking it a lot."
Forgetting himself, T'ien grabbed the edge of the table and climbed up into Wufei's lap. Settling on a knee, he leaned forward till his small forearms were braced on the edge of the table and began to write.
~It's not going to make me want to nap is it? Duo and Heero give me this stuff and I always fall asleep after I take it. Good for my life energy? Well... I guess it can't hurt. ~
T'ien gave Wufei a sweet, slightly sad little smile. If there was any doubt in the Chinese pilot's mind that the little boy knew his prognosis, the smile T'ien gave him now, dispelled that doubt.
Wufei placed one arm around the child on his lap. "T'ien," he said, looking into the child's face. "This tonic will not make you sleepy. And perhaps it will not do much good. But it might. There are different ways to heal, not just the way you know. I understand what is said about your health and your time. But if you will permit, I would like to try something that no one has thought of. When Kuang chose to start the project that created you, he turned away from something that has been a long part of our heritage. A way of looking at health and sickness. I want to try and treat you in the traditional way."
T'ien watched Wufei's lips intently, then he drew back a little. His dark eyes taking on a wary, almost feral expression. His little fingers flew in response... then he stopped. His posture relaxed a little as he turned to write down what he meant to say. His movements with the pencil were heavy and jerky, showing his agitation.
~More experiments?~
Wufei met the boy's eyes. "No, T'ien. No experiments. Just a way of being that has been used for thousands of years. If you would like to know about it before agreeing, I will get you books to read. Simply put, there are energy centers in the body. It is known from long practice that certain things affect these energies. Plants from the Earth. Where the Western medicine would take this plant and analyze it and perhaps even synthesize the 'active agent', the traditional method is to prepare the plant in a few simple ways. Western medicine is best for surgery, our traditional medicine is for treating a whole person, body and spirit."
He added gently, "I will not do anything you don't wish. But this is your heritage, T'ien. And I believe in it. It does not treat the body like a machine to be fixed, but like a living thing, to be understood and strengthened."
T'ien sat there, watching Wufei's lips closely. As the older boy fell silent, the little boy put a finger in his mouth and chewed on it thoughtfully for a long moment. He alternated giving the stove a look, then to Wufei, then back to the stove. Finally his little face set in a very mature expression and he wrote down three simple words.
~Will Heero approve?~
Wufei nodded. "I have already spoken with him about it, while you napped. But you may ask him yourself. He asked particularly if there was a way to help with pain. I have something for this."
T'ien looked thoughtful... then he squirmed and wrote simply. ~It's okay. If Heero said it was okay.~ With that, T'ien set aside the pencil and the paper and snugged back further into Wufei's lap, placing his little back against the young dragon's powerful chest. The little boy's legs hung on either side of Wufei's thigh and he swung them scissor style back and forth while he played Itsy Bitsy Spider on his own two hands. Perfectly content to sit there, amusing himself with a very old child's game while he waited for Heero and Duo to return.
Wufei sat quietly with T'ien for a while. When the herbal brew was ready, he took it off the heat and strained it, carrying T'ien on his shoulder as he did so, being careful not to spill the hot liquid. He left it to cool. Then he carried the boy into the room where his bag was and sat on the floor next to it.
"I have a gift for you," he said. He took the small box containing the paints and brushes and placed it in T'ien's hands.
T'ien rode along like a dutiful little passenger, careful not to get in Wufei's way while the older boy was pouring the hot liquids. Once they were in the room and sitting on the floor, he dropped off Wufei's shoulder to sit right beside him, looking at the box with wide, dark eyes. His face lit up in a large grin as his small hands picked up each brush with an almost dainty gentleness.
"This is from China, on Earth," Wufei said, and showed T'ien the rolled up paper and the cakes of pigment.
Heero gathered Duo up in his arms, wrapping him with the blanket they'd been sort of laying on. He tried not to disturb the sleeping boy as he carried him into the house, keeping alert for a small child as well as looking for Wufei.
Duo turned automatically into Heero's arms with a soft murmur but he didn't waken. If anyone else approached the sleeping American pilot, he'd have been awake and alert in a millisecond but Heero could traipse through with a brass band and Duo would sleep on trustingly.
In the house, T'ien was desperately trying to get Wufei to let him play with the brushes and the pigments. He'd been kidding when he'd looked at the clean white walls with evil intent. Really... kidding... promise!
Wufei was preserving a straight face and stern countenance. Not even a corner of his mouth twitched as he filled a cup with water and set it on the kitchen table. He stepped back and gestured to the chair, placing the box of paints and brushes next to the water, and unrolling a piece of paper to smooth it flat.
T'ien hopped neatly up into the chair giving Wufei his biggest, brightest smile before his eager hands were reaching for those brushes. His dark eyes were already alive with imagined images that he was just dying to start putting down on the paper.
Heero paused in the door of the kitchen, nodding as he saw the little one awake and occupied with something that seemed to please him. Wufei looked up and they exchanged glances. Then Heero moved off to put Duo carefully into their bed. He pulled on a pair of pants after tucking the braided boy into the pillows and returned to the area of the kitchen and den.
The little boy was polite. He didn't just grab and growl. He waited till he had permission from Wufei before he picked up one of the brushes. Then he was lost in his own little world. Surprising, perhaps, was the fact that though the child had squirmed on the chair with typical 6 year old excitement, once he started to stroke the brush across the paper, his entire body became focused. The coordination of his hand that of a much older child as he began to make classically inspired brush strokes over the clean paper.
Wufei watched for a moment, then began to pour off the liquid in the pot on the stove. He put some in a cup and set it next to T'ien, then poured the rest in a container.
Seeing Heero return, Wufei gathered a few things and went into the den to speak to the Japanese pilot.
They talked in quiet voices, more to keep from disturbing Duo several rooms away than T'ien. Wufei handed several small packages to Heero along with instructions, and Heero acknowledged the information.
T'ien's little feet began to swing as he continued to paint. Obvious pleasure reflected in his pretty features. In the other room, Duo rolled over towards Heero's side of the bed. Frowning in his sleep as he obviously missed the warmth of his lover's body, the American burrowed about till he got hold of Heero's pillow, then curled himself up around the pillow, burying his face in its softness with a content little sigh.
After a brief, quiet talk, Heero and Wufei parted, and the Chinese boy picked up his bag. He'd be returning to the big hotel where Quatre and Trowa were, for a while. Heero had given him permission to use one of the bikes in the garage.
Heero walked into the kitchen and sat on a chair, watching T'ien paint.
T'ien's focus was so sharp that it wasn't until he finished the carefully drawn brush stroke that he looked up to acknowledge the return of someone to the kitchen. When he saw who it was his dark eyes lit up with unconditional pleasure and adoration. He flicked his hands, moving without thinking to communicate and then his dark eyes widened in horror as he watched a splotch of dark pigment go flying off the end of the brush towards Heero.
The paint made a little splotch right on Heero's bare shoulder. He looked down, then looked back up, and then his mouth curved in a smile as he saw the expression on T'ien's face. His shoulders vibrated. Then he opened his mouth and laughed.
T'ien watched Heero, then his free hand reached up and covered his mouth, though no sound had ever emitted from the little boy. Carefully setting down the brush, very carefully, in fact almost reverently, T'ien slid down off his chair and jumped up into Heero's lap.
He understood that Heero and Duo went off to be alone together and he never tried to follow or invade upon their private time, no matter how curious he might get, but he was happy to have his Heero back with him. Little arms wove around Heero's neck in a mock strangle squeeze.
Heero settled an arm around the child. He picked up a napkin from the table and handed it to the child. "Clean up your mess, little one."
T'ien gave Heero a sassy little grin and quirked up an eyebrow. Who was going to clean up Duo's mess? The boy was frighteningly precocious at times. Still he took his napkin and gently began to wipe off the pigment before it could set. His other little hand moved a mile a minute as he ~chattered~ at Heero, basically just telling the Japanese boy about Wufei and the teas.
Heero nodded, pulling the cup that Wufei had set down over close enough for T'ien to reach. He used sign language to return his remarks. ~You're supposed to drink. It probably won't taste very good.~
T'ien's little mouth quirked up and his fingers flickered. ~Can't be worse then that barium crap I had to drink every other day. Y.U.C.K.~
Heero smiled slightly but waited, watching to see that T'ien did drink the tea.
The little boy gave a much put upon sigh, then set the napkin off to the side. He picked up the tea in both small hands and peering over the rim at Heero, took a careful sip. Then another, then another. He drank a good half of what was in the mug before lowering the cup for a moment, taking a couple of breaths before finishing up the rest of the liquid like a good boy. He'd been taught that it was easier to just drink the ~yuck~ then fight it. Besides... the tea wasn't as bad as the barium. Turning the empty mug towards Heero when he was done, T'ien gave the Japanese boy a pretty smile.
~Good, very good.~ Heero told the boy. ~Now, don't you want to finish your painting?~
T'ien looked at the paper... then his little mouth pursed in a thoughtful expression. He turned about, squirming on Heero's lap till he sort of had his knees on Heero's thighs. Then he reached out, bracing on the table till he could reach the paper, then brush and the pigments. Pulling them around to Heero's side of the table, T'ien carefully arranged them before catching the edge of the table and pulling it towards himself. Like most of his motor skills, the child was quite strong for a six year old.
Once he had the table close enough, T'ien carefully scootched back around till he was using Heero's legs as a high chair. He gave Heero a little grin over his shoulder.
~This cool with you?~
Heero smiled back and settled an arm around T'ien to steady him, and nodded.
T'ien gave a little happy nod and then turned to continue with his painting.
Instead of heading for the hotel base, Quatre and Trowa had instead gone to the big office building that held WEI on the colony. Access to more equipment. With Alexis's assistance, Quatre had shaken off all the well-meaning execs who desired his attention to certain matters and was ensconced in his cavernous office using the computers.
Trowa and Quatre together had been using about every hacking/sneaky/not-sneaky/official/unofficial trick in the book. Quatre had at some point ditched his jacket and loosened his tie and the collar of his shirt. Trowa stood just behind Quatre's chair, leaning over it, directing the little blond in typing in a set of codes, trying yet another avenue. Trowa's other hand rested against Quatre's shoulder, his long fingers stroking the pale exposed skin of the Arabian's throat in a gesture that was unconscious and soothing to both parties.
En route, Wufei used his communicator to contact Trowa, and changed destinations from the hotel to the office. He spent a few minutes catching up with the acting head of WEI security and then made his way to where the two former Gundam pilots were working, bringing along three bottles of a fruit flavored energy drink.
He walked in and observed the two, setting the extra bottle down in arm's reach, and opening the third. His expression, now that he was no longer in front of T'ien, nor in the 'public' area of WEI's office hallways, showed both suppressed anger and sadness.
"Nothing? Nothing??" Trowa asked in a soft voiced incredulity. The tall boy's brows drew together in an expression of a frown as he straightened and rested his hand on Quatre' shoulder.
"Not even a blip. I'm sorry, Trowa." Quatre answered in a tone that was frustrated and apologetic.
"Not your fault, little one." Trowa said softly, squeezing his lover's shoulder, then looking up as Wufei entered the room.
Quatre followed Trowa's gaze and he smiled gently, studying Wufei's face with an intensity that matched Trowa's.
"Hello, koi." Quatre welcomed him softly.
Trowa's brows drew together and he lowered his eyes. An expression that spoke clearly of 'I'm sorry'. Both for the obvious failure the two were experiencing and also for the sadness Wufei was feeling.
Wufei nodded in answer to Quatre's greeting, and returned Trowa's look with a slight softening that denoted his understanding of the silent message. "It's going to be difficult to think of an approach that neither Yuy nor Maxwell have tried," he said quietly.
Quatre looked back at the uninformative computer with a little glare, his fingers once again reaching for the keyboard. "I know. We've tried every possible avenue..."
"And made a few up." Trowa interjected softly reaching for one of the bottles.
"Yes... and made a few up. It's like this satellite, or whatever it is, doesn't exist. I can't even find proposed building specs for it." Quatre was frowning now and typing with obvious intent.
"When we exhausted trying to find it in the present, so to speak, we went looking for its past. We're working on that right now but it's proving just as difficult as finding it now. I'm beginning to believe that it is completely illegal and was built under the table," Trowa continued when Quatre dropped off.
"Yes... which is an amazing accomplishment," Quatre said in an absent tone.
Trowa just quirked his lips slightly in a wry non-verbal response to the Arabian's words. He traded a look with Wufei that said clearly, 'The little one's so easily impressed sometimes.'
The corner of Wufei's mouth twitched in acknowledgement. "My cousin was quite capable," he said simply. His eyes darkened slightly as he remembered the little boy he'd just left. Then a small crease appeared between his forehead. "But he did not do all of this alone." He looked at Quatre for a moment, then said, "It was never clear to me what part Dorothy played in this."
Trowa gave a little shudder. "She was definitely answering to Kuang and Kuang only." The tall boy took a few steps away from the desk and from his two lovers, rubbing his hands up a long his arms.
Quatre flopped back into his desk chair. A hold-over from his father's days, the chair seemed to swallow the little Arabian. "She probably made herself invaluable to Kuang... she's good at that. She always manages to bring the people she wishes to ingratiate herself with what they need mo..."
Quatre suddenly stopped in mid-sentence. He went completely still, his eyes unfocused then suddenly he jumped forward in the chair.
"Oh by Allah..." he said in a strangled whisper as his slender fingers began to race across the keys.
"...little bit... never would have thought to... Fracilia..." The disjointed words fell from his lips as he typed furiously, his eyes flickering across the computer monitors.
Trowa turned and looked at Quatre, his brows furrowing in a curious expression. As the Arabian boy continued to type like mad, Trowa drifted over to the back of the chair once more, looking down at the screen. The screens were moving so fast it was hard for him to follow what Quatre was doing but he managed to catch a couple of subject titles and his face alternated quickly between pale to grudgingly admiring.
"If she pulled that off..." he said softly and Quatre just growled.
About fifteen minutes of this activity passed before Quatre did something very very rare for him. He cussed.
"Sonovabitch!!!!"
Trowa leapt back as the heavy desk chair went crashing back on its casters, launched when Quatre bolted from his chair to the door.
"ALEXIS! I want you to go down to Mitchell Wenks' office and pull everything he's got on payments going to something called the Hera Project. NO, NOW!"
Trowa leaned against the still shuddering desk chair and looked over at Wufei. Without losing the proper gravity of the situation, the green-eyed boy still looked a touch... amused as he whispered very softly.
"She buried it in WEI. She used WEI resources to build it."
End Part 4
Laekin and bonnejeane
Please send comments to: seregill@aol.com or bonnejeanne@yahoo.com