31-Oct-2000
Category: Action, Adventure, Romance, ANGST
Pairings: 1x2, 3x4x5 (Combinations there of)
Rating: G
Disclaimer: Not mine, no money being made or sought here.
NOTES: And so Companions of Fate continues! Bonne (bonnejeanne@yahoo.com) will be the wonderful puppeteer for Wufei and Heero. I'm responsible for Trowa, Quatre and Duo.
Trowa sprawled in the antique chair, watching the large vid screen that was mounted to the top corner of the room. His face was a picture of impassivity, his green eyes cold and distant, perhaps the barest sneer quirked his handsome lips. Outwardly he was the picture of a disaffected youth.
Inwardly, his heart broke.
On screen, Quatre was standing his ground at a press conference. Though the sound was muted, Trowa could tell by the way Quatre's eyes seemed too large for his pale face that the questions had degenerated from the topic of the conference, to focusing on his personal affairs. If he concentrated, Trowa could almost read the little blonde's lips as he politely withstood the pack of strangers tearing apart his life.
~'I won't answer that ... because it's personal and does not belong in this public forum ... no I don't believe my personal life has any bearing on my ability to handle WEI... I'm certain my sister only has the best interests of WEI in mind, as do I... No, she has not seen fit to address her concerns directly to me...I won't answer that ... because it's personal and does not belong in this public forum...'~
And so the dance continued. Trowa allowed himself the barest moment of personal pride in his little love. Quatre held himself perfectly. He leaned towards the pack of vultures, not away. He didn't allow them to *chase* him, rather he behaved towards them with a courtly grace that made the clamoring Fourth Estate appear common and boorish by comparison.
Trowa reluctantly tore his eyes off Quatre's lips and focused on the still figure standing just one step behind the Winner heir. Wufei's face was a study of alert disdain. It was as if the degrading questions Quatre was deflecting, did not even register in Wufei's ears. The young dragon's dark eyes moved over the crowd, alert for the barest hint of danger to his charge. Though he looked at the men and women, it was as if he saw them as little more then objects. A pack of vultures that were nothing more then pesky hindrances to his line of sight.
As Trowa watched, Wufei finally stepped forward. He did not address the members of the press corp, in fact he didn't even spare them a glance. Instead he took Quatre's elbow, nodded crisply to the other members of the Winner security detail and firmly began to steer Quatre up towards the building.
The interview, was over.
Trowa remained in his negligent sprawl, watching the images continue to dance across the vid screen. The ruse was working well so far. Once set in motion, everything had happened so fast, Trowa had found his job surprisingly easy. Word of the *scandle* had raced through the circles that Quatre moved in, spread with malicious intent by his sister Frecilia.
Brum had found Trowa almost immediately. As they had figured, Brum welcomed Trowa like a long lost friend. What they had not realized was that Brum's interest in comforting the 'heartsick' Barton was less then altruistic. Who would have known that pudgy fingers could find their way to so many parts of an unsuspecting body.
Trowa suppressed a shudder and crossed his legs lazily at the ankles. The trick was giving Brum a sense that he might get lucky, while at the same time keeping the man from taking matters, and more importantly private body parts, into his own hands. So far, Trowa had been able to keep the balance. He channeled all the pain he felt at watching his two lovers vilified by the local media into looking like feelings of being betrayed.
And vilified Quatre and Wufei were. As was much the way with human nature, people automatically were taking Trowa's side in the situation, seeing the green-eyed boy as the wronged party. Outwardly, Trowa presented the disdain he felt at people's automatic assumption as a disdain and disgust for the two people he loved most in the world.
So far, the whole plan was coming off swimingly. Quatre had given him some wonderful material and Trowa found that a slip of the tongue, at the right moment, made a lot of ears, not just Brum's, prick up. He dished out just the right amount of information with just the right touch of venom, for it to sound like angry, vengeful outbursts and not contrived knowledge.
It helped him climb the ladder.
Brum had eagerly introduced Trowa to Roger Mattes. Trowa, in turn, had given Mattes a beautiful song and dance that had, had the man eating out of Trowa's hand. Seeing Mattes so thoroughly enthralled with Trowa, Brum had all but offered the young man a seat on his company's board of directors. A seat with full benefits even, if Trowa would consol his broken heart in Brum's bed.
Trowa had put forth a very convincing act of considering the offer and milked it for more information. Between Brum's lust and Matte's narrow sighted visions of being able to destroy WEI, Trowa had discovered the complete network of companies that made up Unity. It had still taken a candlelight dinner and a bottle of wine, a bottle Trowa made certain Brum drank most of, had finally yielded the name of Unity's governing company.
Li Trading.
Trowa frowned a little. The name was uninformative. The name Li, was as common as dirt and trading ... well ... it could be any sort of trading. It had taken a little bit of finagling but Trowa had finally talked Brum into giving him an introduction to the head of Li Trading. Brum had been very reluctant but he'd put through the call, looking very surprised when the answer came back affirmative.
The head of Li Trading would be most honored to meet Trowa Barton.
Trowa frowned a little deeper. That, worried him. It also worried him that the meeting was taking place out in space on a resource satellite and not back at the colony. He hadn't had time to alert Heero to this unexpected trip and he could only hope that his cover held. Now, he sat in a grand room decorated in Chinese antiques awaiting his audience.
The vid-screen he was watching blanked out a moment before the only door into the room slid open. Trowa studied his toes for a split second, feeling his features melt into the proper expression, then he came gracefully to his feet, turning to greet the man he had traveled three hours to meet.
Trowa need not have bothered trying to affix his masks for in the next instant, Trowa could do nothing about the way the blood drained from his face. As it was, he barely managed to lock his knees to keep from falling back into the chair.
The man standing in the door he carried himself with a very familiar self-confident air. A neat ponytail held back blue-black hair and exposed the graceful cheekbones and aristocratic features Trowa had come to associate with his dragon lover. He was a little taller and his body was sculpted in the musculature of a mature man but the innate grace and power was pure Dragon Clan. Eyes, dark as the blanket of space, glittered not with warmth and affection but with an insane sort of intelligence.
Still, there was no mistaking this man's family resemblance to Chang Wufei.
As Trowa swallowed down his exclamation of shock, the man smiled. The smile of a dragon who has come upon a sleepy, unsuspecting town. He stepped into the room, gliding with and almost unearthly grace.
"Ah, Trowa Barton. It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance. I have heard, much about you from my associate. May I introduce myself? My name is Chang Long Kuang. I believe you have already been introduced to Miss Catalonia?"
Kuang made a graceful gesture with his hand back towards the door. Standing, framed within, stood Dorothy Catalonia. Her steel blue eyes glittered towards Trowa with a malicious glee that spoke of pure pleasure and confidence in having the upper hand.
Something about Dorothy's smug attitude, helped give Trowa the mental kick he needed to turn and face Kuang with complete calm. He had no way of knowing if the game was up or still in play but he was not about to let Dorothy Catalonia win the day.
Either way, he would prevail.
End Part 1
Laekin
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