22-Jan-2002
Warnings: mild language, slight OOC, fluffiness in parts.
Disclaimer: I'm innocent I tell ya!
Authors Notes: Hope you like, it's my first AU fic, so feedback is greatly
appreciated!
They had only slept for a few hours before Heero woke them. It was the dead of night, and dark in the wood. Heero left the cottage and saddled his horse, filled his pouch with water and returned to wake the other two. Trowa was awake the instant he had heard movement and was already gathering his things.
Duo, however was still soundly sleeping, wrapped tightly in his blanket. When Heero nudged him with his foot, he only got a soft groan from the braided boy as he rolled over. Heero snorted with annoyance. "Get up." He snarled and went to kick the boy again. Only this time, Duo turned as quick as lightning on him and grabbed his foot. Pushing up and away, Heero momentarily lost his balance and landed unceremoniously on his backside. "You shouldn't kick people when they're laying down, Lion." Duo laughed playfully.
Heero sprang to his feet and hearing the soft chuckle from Trowa behind him, gathered the last of things and stormed out of the cottage.
"Someone got up on the wrong side of the bed this morning, huh?" Duo quipped to Trowa as he rolled up his blanket.
"I think he likes you." Trowa answered.
"Strange way of showing friendship don't you think?"
"Heero doesn't have friends. He has men he leads and a King he follows. Be grateful you didn't wind up dead." Trowa said as he left the dimly lit cottage to get his horse saddled.
Duo quirked a brow at that. Heero was such a serious soul. Shaking his head a bit, Duo gathered his things as well and followed Trowa out into the starlit night. Smiling he realized they had indeed been listening about traveling at night, and even though he only had a few hours rest, he was glad to be moving in the comfort of the night and its shadows. His masks were far easier to keep hidden that way.
They had been traveling for about three hours when Moonrakers head snapped up and Grace started chirping. All three boys froze in their path, steadying their mounts and listened. Trowa flashed Heero a signal, and with Heero's nod, he instantly had dismounted in silence and was up a tree.
Duo watched the fluid movements with a small grin. He didn't need to climb up a tree to know what spooked the animals. The Great Wood was notorious for them. Wolves. He slid one of the blades out from underneath his forearm and slid from his saddle, receiving a harsh glare from Heero in doing so. Holding a finger to his lips, Duo took a hold of both Nanashi and Moonraker and tied them to the nearest bit of shrubbery. He knew Moonraker wouldn't bolt, but didn't know enough about the bay to chance losing him when the wolves descended upon them. Without the horses they would be stranded for longer than Duo had time to think about. Moonraker gave a snort and Duo knew they were creeping closer.
"Was is it?" Heero demanded in a harsh whisper, following Duo's lead and dismounting off Zero.
"Wolves. They'll be after the horses." Duo whispered back with a small grin.
"How do you know?" Heero looked at the black clad boy with an incredulous stare.
Duo eyes didn't look to Heero as he spoke but darted in the pale light watching for the slightest movement. "Seen them before, a few nights ago. They were too busy tearing apart some poor wandering soul who was in the wrong place at the wrong time to notice me. But tonight we're the only things moving."
Heero noticed Duo had drawn both blades now and how they glinted in the weak light of the moon. They almost seemed to glow blue in the shadows. Duo wore a feral smile and his eyes were dark and glimmering with adrenaline. Drawing his own sword, he tied Zero up as well and gave the great horse a reassuring pat. "We need to protect them from the wolves."
Nodding Duo almost laughed. So they did think along the same lines after all. "Yeah, from great, big, nasty, hairy ones."
Both boys knew that Trowa was above them with his sharp eyes focused and would easily cut some down with his arrows. So they waited. Heero saw a flash of black move quickly from behind a tree about ten feet in front of them, but lost it in the long shadows of the woods. He tracked its path, but nothing moved.
Then in the next instant they pounced. Heero heard the snarling and howling of the animals like a roar of some great imaginary beast as they descended upon them from all sides. From the blackness of the wood twelve or more great gray wolves approached them. Their yellow eyes glowed in the low light as they bore their sharp white teeth in fierce snarls.
The horses were surrounded by thick brush behind them, so Heero and Duo flanked them on either side to keep the wolves at bay. Heero heard a great yelp as a wolf came crashing to the ground in front of him with an arrow stuck in its head from Trowa above them. He slashed another as it snapped and swiped at him, sticking it once before it retreated. He glanced to Duo who was fighting off two at once, his blades dancing in quick, fluid strikes, slashing the animals as they growled and snapped at him.
Grace suddenly flew down and clawed ones' eyes sending it howling away from its close proximity to Moonrakers' flank. Heero spun, sticking another as it leaped at him from the right, sending him sprawling to the ground as he and the animal collided. Trowa's arrows continued to fly from his perch, killing two more from where they were stalking behind Heero as he struggled to get up from underneath the beast.
Duo seeing the movement to his left, dispatched another as he ran to where Heero was pushing off the dead thing from on top himself. He heard Zero scream as a wolf leapt on top of his back and was kicking for all he was worth to throw it off. Duo rushed to it and slashed at it, knocking the wolf off balance as the great, gray horse continued to buck and kick violently.
The animal lunged for him as soon as it had regained its footing, ripping its claws over Duo's arm as he held up his blade to fend it off. Stumbling backward from the blow, and hissing from the pain searing across his forearm, he threw the blade towards the animal's head. It dodged the blade and ran again at Zero who was bound fast to the thicket. Duo raced towards the horses as the wolf sprang again onto Zero's hindquarters.
Trowa aimed carefully and let his arrow fly from above, killing it just as Zero reared up striking the oncoming Duo with his front leg. Duo went flying and landed harshly in a heap six feet from the terrified horse. He saw the wolf dead on the ground and slowly stood to rejoin the fight. His world began to spin. And just before he slipped into blackness, he felt a strong pair of hands catch him as he pitched forward.
Blinking, Duo opened his eyes slowly to find himself looking into concerned blue ones above him. "Wha?" He muttered as Heero held the water flask to his lips so he could drink.
"You got kicked in the head. Good thing too. Kicked anywhere else, you may have been hurt." Heero smirked at the still stunned look to Duo's face.
Duo raised his hand to his head where there was a small bump. Enough to knock him out but no damage done. He sat up with the help of Heero. "The wolves?"
"Ran off shortly after the last one was shot off Zero's back." Heero answered, running his fingers over the lump on Duo's head carefully.
Duo batted his hands away. "Is the horse all right?"
"They're all fine." Heero looked down, not wanting to meet the violet depths in front of him. "I am in your debt."
Duo laughed and stood up shakily. "It was nothing, man. I told you they'd be after the horses and if anything happened to them we'd be in a sorry spot of... "
"No." Heero spoke with firmness that made Duo stop rambling. "It wasn't nothing. Besides Trowa, Zero is the only friend I have. If I lost him... " Heero looked away, not wanted to look weak in front of Duo.
"I understand, Lion." Duo placed a hand on Heero's shoulder as he spoke in a softer tone. "You would have done the same." Their eyes met for a brief moment as Trowa hopped down from the last low hanging branch on his decent.
"Are you two all right?" He demanded, running his hands over Heero checking him for injuries.
Duo laughed brightly. "Good to go, man. Thanks for asking. Nice shooting, by the way."
"Way to duck." Trowa shot back.
Duo snorted in protest. They were none the worse for wear. Heero had a few bruises and a scrap along his arm where he had connected with one of the wolves' paws, and he had a slash on his forearm that was only bleeding mildly and a bump on the head. They were covered in thick, nasty smelling blood from the wolves they had slain that made Duo start to itch as it dried. The horses also were in good shape. Still on high alert, and pawing at the ground. Moonraker had a cut on his leg, and Zero had some good-sized claw marks on his back and flanks, but no serious harm done.
Heero looked around at the dead bodies of the wolves. They had killed nine. "So what do we do with them?"
"I say we eat one!" Duo crowed. Seeing the look from both princes, he smiled sheepishly and shrugged. "Hey, they wouldda done the same to us." Trowa shrugged. Heero shook his head, and Duo laughed.
End Part 2
(:./ebony/dragon2)
