Quatre sat back in his room with his two lovers. “Ok,” Heero said again. “He wants us to what?”
Quatre sighed and rubbed his fingers across his aching forehead. He couldn’t understand why Heero and Trowa were being deliberately obtuse about this. He drew in a deep breath and glanced upward in search of divine assistance before answering. “He wants us to locate the man who sold him Wufei.”
“Why are three Shadow Lords looking for one human?”
The blond shadow lord sighed again. “To repay him for his ‘kindness’.” Quatre almost spat the last word and his wings ruffled slightly behind him in a visible indication of his agitation.
“What did he do to that boy to earn Shinigami’s displeasure?” Trowa wondered.
Quatre’s eyes narrowed. “That is not my place to say.”
Trowa gulped. “Where do we start, lover?”
“His name is Chang Maru. That is all that I know.”
Heero, who had been silent during this last exchange, finally spoke up. “That’s not much to go on love.”
“Nevertheless, he will be found. While you begin the search outside I will talk to Wufei.”
“I still can’t believe that he’s bringing us in just to find one-“
“Do we have a problem gentlemen?”
Trowa’s rant stopped in mid sentence when he heard the calm voice of his lord interrupt him. Three men dropped to their knees before Shinigami. “Of course not, my lord.” Quatre’s eyes were mocking when he answered. Heero and Trowa watched their lover taunt the God of Death and feared for his life. Duo caught their uneasy glances and glowered.
“Oh stop that.”
Their eyes immediately dropped to the floor. “Yes my lord.”
“For the love of—I’m not going to kill him. I’m not even going to yell at him. You look like idiots. Get up.”
“Yes my lord.” The little blond intoned sarcastically as he rose to his feet. Heero and Trowa gasped. Duo just laughed.
“So, my Shadows, have you found anything for me?” Violet eyes glowed with an unholy light.
“No, Lord. We were working on formulating a plan just as you entered.”
Shinigami’s gaze narrowed on Trowa. “Yes. I could tell.” Though his voice was calm Trowa couldn’t help but tremble just a bit.
The sweet one started to giggle. “Oh please you two. Haven’t you figured out yet that Duo’s not like that?? Come on. He’s your friend. He’s not going to kill you for stating an opinion.”
“As long as it doesn’t stop you from doing what I told you to anyway.” Two innocent smirks greeted the other boys’ serious expressions.
Heero, the braver of the two, cleared his throat. “So if you don’t mind us asking, just why are three Shadow Lords tracking down a human?”
Duo’s playful expression turned grim and his eyes burned. “Simple. He made Wufei fear me. Among other things. What he did was reprehensible. He must be repaid for all the work it will take me to correct the assumptions caused by his mistake.” Duo’s mouth stretched into a grim smile when he considered all the interesting ways that the situation could be rectified.
Heero, Quatre, and Trowa swallowed, hard.
“My lord?” Quatre ventured drawing Duo from his musing.
That far away gaze refocused on his friend. “Yes?”
“With your permission, I’d like to question Wufei about his father.”
“Of course. Just try not to upset him any more than possible.”
The Arabian nodded. “Of course not, Duo.” He turned to his lovers. “I’m going to talk to Wufei. You two see what you can find out on the other end.” Quatre nodded to Duo and left the room, leaving Heero and Trowa to look first at each other and then uncertainly toward Duo.
“Well?” The braided lord inquired. “Don’t you two have something you’re supposed to be doing?”
Two voices answered. “Yes.” With quick bows from both, Duo was left standing alone in the room.
*****
Wufei looked up fearfully when the door opened to reveal a small blond demon. What his father had said before he was sent here made him cringe back against his chair. *Is this it? Does it start now?*
The demon frowned and stepped further into the room watching carefully the way that Wufei’s thin body shrank from him. His ocean colored eyes glanced to where the untouched tray sat beside the young human. “You didn’t eat your breakfast.”
Wufei’s body jerked. He remained silent though his eyes widened. He had to force himself not to run when the demon flowed closer. The young boy knew that he couldn’t run fast enough to get away from the creature even if he tried so he fought his natural inclination and remained still.
Quatre watched the black haired child’s body tremble when he moved closer and immediately stopped. How should he deal with this? He knew that he was the embodiment of what the child feared. How could he get around that?
When the demon remained silent and stopped his advance Wufei calmed a bit. If the blond had been there to take him wouldn’t it have started by now? The gaze fixed on him made him slightly uncomfortable but the debilitating fear that he had been struggling with was waning. The blond demon didn’t look threatening. Now that he thought about it he didn’t look like he was there to molest Wufei either. A slight movement behind the other boy caught his attention and he watched with interest as the white feathered wings fluffed themselves.
Quatre felt the young one’s tension ebb slightly. He snapped his mind out of his musing and he noticed that he no longer had the boy’s attention. Or rather he did, it was just focused on a different part of him. *The wings. Why didn’t I think of that? He’s probably never seen one of us up close before.* Quatre smiled gently and spread his wings a bit, ruffling them again.
Wufei followed the movement. His fingers itched with the desire to touch those appendages and his mind filled with questions that pushed his worries back into some dark unused corner to make room.
Quatre’s smile widened. “Would you like to touch them?” He asked softly.
Ebony eyes snapped back to his face. Though the look was still unsure, he could tell that the boy was definitely interested in his proposition. Carefully he stretched one wing over to the small form sitting in the chair.
Wufei looked from the demon still standing several feet away from him to the wing tip that was very near his face. Tentatively he reached out and stroked a finger over the pristine feathers. He looked back at Quatre who smile reassuringly. “Go ahead. It’s alright.” The wing nudged at his hand.
Encouraged Wufei stroked the feathers again. The wing was soft and silky beneath his hand and he scooted forward on his seat to be able to reach better. When his hand slid up around the top curve the feather’s shook and fluffed and the demon laughed. The black haired boy pulled his hand back quickly and glanced at the demon’s face with both fear and guilt in his shadowy eyes.
Quatre’s expression gentled. “It’s alright. It just tickled.”
Wufei looked interested. “I-it did?”
*Ha! A response!* “Yes. It did.”
Wufei moved farther forward. “I didn’t know that demons were ticklish.”
*Wha—demons? Oh.* “We’re not demons Wufei.”
Wide eyes met his. “You’re not?”
*He’s curious. This is good.* “Of course not.” He smiled again.
The Chinese boy blinked. “What—I mean…”
Quatre knew what he meant even if he couldn’t find words to say it. “We are Shadow Lords. We are not any more evil than mortal men. We are simply different.”
Wufei blinked. “Oh. Can I touch your wings again?”
“Of course you may. As long as I can talk to you that is.”
Those eyes were instantly wary again. “Talk to me about what?”
The blond pasted on his most innocent expression. “Nothing in particular…” *Your father in particular.* “I was just looking for someone to talk to.”
Wufei nodded. “Alright.”
*****
Quatre moaned when Trowa’s talented fingers found a particularly knotted muscle in his shoulder. “Four hours Trowa. I talked to that boy for four hours and not once did he let one tiny piece of information about his father slip.” Quatre’s growl turned into another moan as Trowa kept massaging.
“It’ll be alright, darling. After all this is only the first day.”
“I hope so. Duo won’t be patient for long. Where is Heero by the way?”
“He’s following up on the trader who handled the sale. He should be back soon though.”
“Good. I’m tired.”
Trowa could tell that his little love was half-asleep with or without Heero being there. Tenderly he tucked the blankets around his smaller lover and settled beside him to watch him sleep.
Heero wearily pushed the door to his rooms open. Both of his lovers were lying on the bed seemingly asleep. That idea was swiftly proved wrong when clear green eyes met his.
“How’d it go?” Trowa whispered.
Heero methodically started to strip off his clothes on his way to the bed. His answer was muffled since he was trying to speak through his shirt. “Not well.” The shirt came off fully. “The dealer couldn’t tell me the man’s name or where he lived. Supposedly when the man went back to check the address he found that it was counterfeit. So we’re back to square one.”
“That’s not good.” Trowa grumbled. “Quatre says that Duo won’t be patient for long and he didn’t manage to get anything out of the slave today either.”
“Shit.”
*****
Duo looked at his now sleeping slave. Midnight hair feathered around a perfect face and spread out on the sheets behind him. The boy was stunning and Duo almost couldn’t wait until the time when he overcame the boy’s fear and finally tasted the flawlessness that his money had procured for him. And he did so want to thank the man who had sold his own son and brought him all this… ‘pleasure’.
He’d taken the extra hour to read Quatre and Heero’s reports before retiring to his rooms for the night. Both of them had found nothing new. He could only hope that tomorrow would be more productive for his patience was quickly wearing thin.
Calming his slight power fluctuation so that it wouldn’t wake his slave, he shucked his clothing and climbed into bed. Wufei instantly curled around him and, somehow comforted, Duo drifted into a dreamless sleep.