'...' thoughts

One and Only Part 2

For a long moment, Heero could not breathe and everything around him narrowed down to that one, small ear, as time seemed to stop. Then from Quatre's other side, he heard Trowa curse softly and it was as if he had been splashed with cold water. Time once again started forward and he felt himself stumble backwards away from the bed although he could not take his eyes from the bed's small occupant. Luckily, Trowa's reflexes were quick enough to catch him from falling when his heel caught on an uneven spot on the floor.

"What have we done?" he whispered, his voice full of anguish.

"We didn't do anything, Heero." Trowa said, giving him a gentle shake. "Dammit, we had no idea he was an elf when we bought him."

"Elves can't be taken as slaves." Heero said firmly, finally tearing his eyes away from the boy and grabbing the other man by the front of the shirt. "It'll void the treaty and you know what will come to pass if that happens."

"I'm well aware of the laws, Heero. Our fathers were two of the people who helped in writing them, remember." Trowa said calmly before guiding the other man to a chair and helping him to sit down. "But I also know that we are not responsible for what has happened to him. In fact, it could be argued that we actually saved him."

"Always the counselor?" Heero smirked at his friend who returned the gesture.

"Heero, you have to calm down. None of this is helping us; or him." Quatre said, his voice soft as he tried to calm his friend.

"Dammit. Is he alright Quatre?" Heero said, once again standing from the chair and approaching the bed.

"I don't know. He needs a bath and clean clothes before I can properly examine him."

"Right." Heero nodded sharply before spinning around and stalking towards the bedroom door, feeling better now that he had a task to perform.

After opening the door, Heero stepped out into the hall and pulled it mostly shut behind him before calling for one of the servants. He only had to wait a moment before a young maid appeared at the end of the hall and hurried toward him. He gave her the instructions concerning the bath after which she dropping a quick curtsy and hurrying off to complete the task. As he was about to return to the room he had another thought and once again called for a servant; this time the butler was the one to appear. Approaching quickly, the man bowed before asking the young lord what was required of him.

"I want you to send into town for constable Chang. Tell him it's an emergency and his presence is needed here immediately." he instructed the man. The butler bowed again as soon as the order had been given and hurried to fulfill his employer's request.

"Do you really think that wise?" Trowa asked as he reentered the room.

"Yes. The longer we put off informing the authorities, the more likely we will be suspected of wrongdoing. Besides, Chang's contacts may be our only chance of returning the boy without an incident."

"Heero's right, Trowa. Wufei's probably our best hope right now." Quatre said, then turned to his dark haired friend. "Heero, he'll need some clothes. The ones he has aren't fit for anything other than burning."

"I'm afraid I don't have anything small enough to fit him."

"Hmm, probably not, but he has to have something besides these rags. Perhaps one of your nightshirts? It'll still be big on him, but at least it's clean."

"Yes, it would be better than what he has. I'll go get you one."

"Good, and it might be best if you wait for Wufei downstairs and explain everything before bringing him up. The last thing we need is for him to overreact and scare the poor thing to death."

"Hn." Heero nodded then turned and left the room again. He quickly walked the short distance down the hall to his own room where he retrieved one of his nightshirts for the boy. Walking back up the hall toward the stairs, he stopped only long enough to leave the shirt at the door with Trowa before heading downstairs.

Even though he knew in reality it would not take long for Chang Wufei, the town constable, to reach the manor, the wait seemed endless and he soon found himself pacing back and forth across the foyer. He could see servants flitting around trying to catch a glimpse of what was transpiring as their curiosity began to get the better of them. Heero however, was far too agitated at that moment to care about their gawking and simply continued to pace. When the knock on the door finally came not twenty minutes later, Heero was the one to open it to allow the constable to enter.

"Yuy." Wufei greeting him with a nod.

"Chang."

"Now what's this about an emergency?"

Out the corner of his eye, Heero noticed several of the servants begin to gather around the plants and furniture at the far end of the foyer, presumable to clean. Knowing that what he was about to tell Wufei would best be kept a secret for as long as possible, he decided the conversation should be held in private.

"We should talk in the parlor." Heero said with a meaningful glance toward the servants. Wufei immediately read the significance of that glance and it set warning bell off in his head; with a nod, he confirmed that he both agreed and understood. Without saying anything further, Heero turned and led him down the hall and into the smaller room before closing and locking the doors behind them.

"Ok, Yuy, what's this all about? It doesn't have anything to do with the rumor I heard about you and Barton being seen at the market this morning, by any chance?" Wufei asked causing Heero to whirl around from locking the doors and stare at him, his mouth gaping open. "I see it does."

"If you already know about it..." Heero moaned before stumbling across the room and collapsing into an oversized chair.

"So this is your emergency? You wanted to tell me you bought a slave? I do have important things to do you know."

"No, that's not it. I mean, it is but... it's not." Heero stuttered, feeling all together flustered that the rumor of his slave purchase had already spread so far through the town. "Damn, you should probably sit down for this."

"Why, what could you possibly tell me about..."

"He's an elf."

"..." Wufei stared at Heero for a full minute before walking over to the chair directly in front of him and calmly sitting down. "Would you care to repeat that? I'm not sure I hear you right."

"He's an elf, Wufei. And that's not all either." Heero said, his voice taking on a desolate tone as he buried his face in his hands. Once again, Heero's actions and the tone of his voice caused a warning to go off in his head and when the man finally looked back up, the haunted look in his eyes was enough to tell him that what was about to be said was very distressing. "He has violet eyes."

For a long time, Wufei could only sit and staring at Heero in stunned disbelief. After a while though, Heero began to become nervous under the other's dark gaze and decided to move the conversation along.

"Surely your clan..." Heero began.

"I'm no longer a member of the Dragon Clan, as you well know."

"Yes, I know, but I also know you've kept in contact with someone."

"True, but answer me one question first," Wufei said, sitting back in the chair in a deceptively relaxed manner. "does he have long, chestnut hair?"

"I'm not sure about the exact color, but he does have long brown hair that he has in a braid." Heero answered.

At that answer, Wufei visibly crumbled. The outer shell of calm he had been trying so hard to maintain, in order to disguise the panic he was feeling inside, instantly vanished.

"Oh god." he whispered, his eyes sliding shut. "This is not happening. Tell me this is not happening." Then suddenly his eyes snapped open and he leaned forward in the chair; staring Heero dead in the eyes. "Tell me you didn't just buy a fucking elf as a slave and not just any elf, oh no, you had to go and buy the goddamn crown prince whose been missing for the last six fucking months."

As Wufei spoke, he had stood from his chair and his voice had risen in volume until he was practically screaming. For a moment he simply stood over Heero, his breath coming in a soft pant as he tried to calm his anger, then he suddenly spun on his heals and began pacing around the room.

"We didn't know dammit. Not until we got him back here." Heero said, and then something dawned on him. "Wait, six months? The slaver trader said he only picked the boy up last week."

"Duo."

"What?"

"His name. It's Duo. And I know for a fact he's been missing for six months. The entire clan was sent out to search for him immediately after his disappearance, but no one's been able to find a single clue to his whereabouts. They can't figure out how he was taken from the forest or even how someone managed to get inside in the first place." Wufei said and shook his head. "Do you have any idea what kind of mess this is going to cause?"

"I'm well aware of the possibilities. But I'm telling you, we only found out he was an elf when we brought him back here and Quatre started looking him over."

"Quatre? Is he hurt?"

"We don't know." Heero said as he ran a hand through his hair in a frustrated manner. "He needs a bath before Quatre can do the examination."

"Dammit, why did you have to go through with that stupid bet anyways." Wufei said as he once again started pacing.

"And what if I hadn't, Wufei? What if we hadn't gone to the market today? Think about it."

The reality of that statement hit Wufei square in the stomach because the fact was that if Heero had not gone to the market and found him, then he would still be there and eventually someone would have bought him. Someone who quite possibly would have been entirely too happy to keep an elf as a slave.

"I need to see him." Wufei said.

"He's upstairs." Heero said and rose from his seat before walking toward the doors. However, before he unlocked them, he turned back to the other man. "You know him, don't you."

"I did. Before... Well, before what happened." Wufei explained, a wistful smile on his face. "He used to sneak down to our village to listen to the elders tell stories. They weren't too happy that he was running off on his own and since he refused to have guards follow him around, they assigned me to sort of watch over him. At first, it was a nuisance. Not only is he several years my junior but his size makes him look even younger, so it was like being strapped with a younger brother to baby-sit. After a while though, it really did feel like he was my baby brother." Then the smile disappeared and he swallowed sharply before continuing. "I was only able to speak to him for a moment to tell him I was leaving and I was told later that he stopped coming to the village completely after that. I haven't seen him since that day."

"He must have missed you."

"Eight years is a long time." Wufei said with a sigh. "I doubt if he even remembers me."

"I'm sure he does." Heero said, and laid his hand on his friend's arm in a comforting manner. "Why don't we find out?"

Turning back to the doors, Heero unlocked and opened them; gesturing for Wufei to exit first. "So tell me, how old is he anyways? From what I can tell, he couldn't be more than fourteen or fifteen."

"He's eighteen, actually." Wufei said and smiled at his friend's shocked expression. "Yeah, I know, it's hard to believe but he turned eighteen about six months ago. He disappeared the day after his birthday."

Shaking his head at the enormity of that statement, Heero quickly led the way up the stairs and to the room he had left Trowa and Quatre watching over the boy. As he pushed the door open, he could hear Quatre's voice speaking softly to someone in what could only be described as a soothing manner.

"It's alright, no one's going to hurt you." the two men heard him saying. Sharing a glance, they quickly entered the room.

The first thing Heero noticed upon entering the room was that the bed was now empty. The next thing he noticed was Quatre crouching on the far side of the bed, facing the far corner of the room and Trowa standing at the foot of the bed. Crossing the room quickly, they came to stand beside their auburn haired friend and saw that the blonde's attention was fixed on the small figure huddled in the corner. Much the same as he had been at the slave trader's pavilion, the boy; Duo, Heero reminded himself; was sitting with his back pressed to the corner and his knees were drawn up against his chest; his head once again resting on his knees.

"What happened." Heero demanded softly.

"He woke up as I was trying to take his shirt off." Quatre explained as he stood from his crouch and came to stand with them. "The next thing I knew, he was in the corner and hasn't moved since."

As Wufei listened to the other man's explanation, he continued to watch the small elf. Once Quatre had finished, he walked the rest of the way around the edge of the bed and slowly approached the boy.

"Your highness." he started but when he did not receive an answer, he decided to try another tactic. "Duo."

At the sound of his name, the braided elf's head shot up and he stared at the man standing about five feet in front of him. At first, his face showed only confusion, as he could not understand how this person could possibly know his name, but then a spark of recognition light in his eyes. However, disbelief kept him from moving from what he considered his safe place.

"It's alright, Duo, it's me and no one's going to hurt you. These people are my friends; they just want to help you." Wufei said and took several steps forward. When he was two feet from the elf, he knelt down so he was on the same level as the boy. "I promised we'd see each other again."

No sooner had the words left his mouth than he had his arms full as Duo literally launched himself out of the corner with an inarticulate cry. Wufei could almost feel his heart breaking as he not only heard but also felt the convulsive sobs that shook the small form in his arms.

"Shh, it's alright. You're safe now." he whispered as he softly rubbed circles in the boy's back and gently began to rock back and forth. It was a long time before the small elf's sobs finally calmed and then stopped all together as Wufei continued to comfort him. Finally the arms, which had been wrapped in a death grip around his neck, loosened and when he pulled back to look down at the boy's face, he saw that he had fallen back to sleep.

"He used up all of his strength with that one effort." Quatre explained upon seeing the worry on his friend's face.

Coming up beside him, Heero gently removed Duo from Wufei's grasp and carried him back to the bed; allowing Wufei to stand up once again.

"So what do we do now?" he asked.

"We were hoping you could answer that." Trowa said quietly.

"Well one thing's for sure, we can't allow my clan to find out about this, at least not yet. In the state they're in, there's no telling what they'd do to the two of you, regardless of whether you knew who he was or not."

"What does that leave us then?" Heero asked.

"As far as I'm concerned, all of this political pandering can wait." Quatre stated matter-of-factly. "He needs to be examined first and to do that I need him to be clean."

"But why isn't he already healed?" Wufei asked with a confused look on his face. "Elven magic is supposed to work subconsciously for healing. Even weak and tired, an elf's magic will heal most cuts and bruises almost instantly and only require a minimal amount of the elf's strength to do so."

"That's a good question." Heero said as he looked down at the small figure on the bed and found himself staring into soft violet. "Hello." he said softly and smiled. Upon hearing the tone of his voice, the others immediately looked his way and seeing that Duo was once again awake, Quatre carefully came to stand by his side, trying not to startle the elf.

"Hello, Duo. My name is Quatre and I'm a doctor. I'd like to be able to look you over but I need to get you cleaned up first. Do you think you could take a bath if I helped you?" he asked gently. At first, Duo only stared and Quatre was beginning to worry that he would not answer but then he slowly nodded his head in agreement causing the blonde to smile. "Good. Now, do you want the others to stay or would you prefer they leave."

Seeing the blush that tinted the dirt-smudged cheeks was answer enough for Quatre and he quickly ushered the others out the door before returning to the bed where Duo was attempting to sit up on his own. Reaching out, the blonde doctor tentatively placed his hand on the boy's shoulder and almost yanked it back when he felt the boy flinch.

"I'm not going to hurt you, I promise, but I have to touch in order to help you with the bath." he said, staring into the other's large violet eyes. When the boy finally nodded, he grasped one thin arm gently at the elbow and helped him to sit on the edge of the bed. Then being just as gentle, he grasped the shirt by the helm and pulled it over the boy's head before tossing it to the other side of the room. Next came the pants, but when the boy hesitated as he reached for the tie at the waist, Quatre stopped. "It's alright. I'll get you one of the towels and you can wrap it around your waist. Would that be alright?" Quatre asked and when he received another nod, he quickly grabbed one of the towels the maid had left and unfolded it before draping it over his left arm. Placing his right arm around the elf's waist, Quatre helping him to stand before wrapping the towel around his hips then he held the boy up as he slipped the pants off.

Making their way slowly across the room, the two approached the wooden bathtub. However, by this time, the water had cooled considerably and Quatre was afraid it would be too cold for him. Duo though had gone so long without a proper bath that even the cool water was not enough to keep him from getting one now. Once he was settled, Quatre retrieved the soap and clothe that had been brought in as well and handed them to him. Working slowly, Duo began to cleanse himself of the filth that had nearly become a part of his skin. As he was doing that, Quatre was eyeing the braid of hair that was trailing over the edge of the wooden tub.

"Duo, would you like me to take your hair down so it can be washed?" he asked. Duo immediately froze and turned wide, frightened eyes toward the blonde. Quatre, realizing he had said something wrong, quickly tried to set the boy at ease. "It's alright if you don't want me to, I'll understand. I just thought it would be difficult for you since you were feeling so tired."

Duo continued to stare at him for a long moment more, fortunately though, some of the fear he had seen in those eyes had receded, which caused Quatre to hope he had done the correct thing. When the elf finally nodded and turned back to continue washing, Quatre breathed a silent sigh of relief and took hold of the braid before carefully removing the tie from the end. Then being careful not to tangle it any more than it already was or to hurt the boy, he began to unravel the hair from the loose plait. Once the braid was completely unraveled, he had Duo lean forward slightly while tilting his head back so he could use the water from the bath to wet the hair. Then, using the bar of soap, he created a handful of lather and scrubbed it deep into the wet hair, making sure to massage Duo's scalp thoroughly before working the lather through to the ends; using the soap to create more lather as needed.

By the time Quatre had finished washing the long hair and Duo had completed scrubbing his body as best as he could, the water was absolutely filthy, and in truth, he could have used another bath but Quatre could see he was barely keeping his eyes open as it was and did not want to tax him any further. Besides, he was clean enough for the examination and he could take another one once he had rested. So grabbing another of the clean towels, he wrapped the boy's hair tightly and squeezed as much water out of it as he could. Then taking two more, he helped Duo out of the tub, quickly wrapping one around the boy's hips and using the other to toweled him off before helping him into the nightshirt, which Heero had provided. Suddenly, just as the shirt was settled around him, the boy's legs could hold him up no longer and they buckled underneath him. Luckily, Quatre caught him before he fell and carried him back to the bed where he laid him down gently. When he drew back, he saw that Duo was once again asleep.

TBC...

 

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