Blue Forest Banshee Part 54
Very late in the summer, Trowa invited us to visit his Clan. I was thrilled.
At first.
I had no clue that he was really inviting me to be a cat toy for his cousins, nieces and nephews.
I was enthusiastically assaulted by the "kittens" of the Clan almost non-stop, from the moment we arrived. They loved me. They adored me. They couldn't keep their hands or paws off my hair or me.
I'm sorry; do I sound disgruntled? Actually, I'm quite gruntled, thank you. It's just that constantly being pounced upon begins to take a toll on one's nerves in a very short time. By the time I kissed Heero goodnight that first night, and crawled into bed in the room we were sharing, I felt like I'd been tumbled through white water rapids.
"Think you'll survive?" Heero asked softly from the other bed.
"I hope so," I returned fervently. "Otherwise, you've been patient for nothing."
A silence.
"There is that," he said finally. A soft rumble of irritation. "Tomorrow will be kitten-free," he pronounced firmly.
"They're adorable, but..."
"I went through it, too."
I raised up on one elbow to stare at him. "And you just let me walk into that?!" I could see his smirk in the dark. I thought of a dozen ways to make him pay. "Ah, hell," I muttered, flopping back into the pillows. "I'm too tired to hurt you."
"I'm sorry, baby." I heard the smirk in his voice. "I'll make it up to you, I promise."
"You sure will," I muttered.
~*~
I dug my fingers into the rock above my head before moving my feet, gingerly feeling about for a solid foothold. Next to me, a half-grown mountain lion looked over and nodded at me.
"You're doing fine. We're only about five meters from the top." He flashed his long teeth and his light blue eyes sparkled. "You're not half bad, for a biped," he laughed.
I managed to smile and laugh without glaring or grumbling. ::So, Heero, just how is this kitten-free?:: Still, they weren't mauling me at the moment, so I suppose I shouldn't complain.
I was climbing a hill -- Trowa's word for this humongous chunk of continental divide that we were spread out across like a line of drunken ants. I didn't remember agreeing to this, but somehow, shortly after breakfast I found myself in the middle of a group of Pumas hiking up the foothills of this rock.
I'm not lazy and I've never been sedentary, but I didn't grow up around mountains like these. The only hills I'd ever climbed were rolling and covered in grass and wildflowers. I'm just not used to having the ground slide out from under my feet. Or roll down to splatter in my face.
Where were my good friends, you ask?
That's a very good question. Trowa and Wufei were in their animal phases; Trowa was waiting at the top, lounging on a flat rock and Wufei was sailing about puffing smokeballs at the young Pumas.
My boyfriend, Heero the Wyvern, had taken one look at the bloody mountain and said he'd already done his turn. He promptly shifted to his other form and leaped into the air to sail on the rising currents. Leaving me behind at the mercy of the Clan kittens. Yeah, I could've teleported, but the kids weren't as unruly as the day before, and I was trying hard to be a good guest.
Besides, when I get excited or emotional, my concentration drops and I can't teleport. Professor Light Hawk says it may be because I'm a Banshee; I may be able to do it under ideal conditions, but not under duress. That sucks, because I wanted to do it so much for my partnership with Heero.
I was really excited about being able to do something, and it just irritated the hell out of me that I couldn't after all. Heero doesn't mind; he doesn't really like teleporting. He says it gives him jet lag.
Which has nothing at all to do with me climbing the Rocky Mountains with a bunch of Were-Pumas.
Finally, I reached the summit, of that bit of rock, at least. I scrambled up and straightened, looking out over the valley below.
I can honestly say that I have never seen such a magnificent vista in my entire life. Breath-taking doesn't even begin to describe it. In fact, the best I could do was speechless. I stood there staring, with my mouth hanging open like a beached fish.
Mountains and hills and meadows and rivers and lakes; trees and flowers and animals and birds and... and... just everything!
"So, Duo," murmured Trowa from beside me. "Was it worth the climb?"
My mouth moved but no sound came out. Trowa snickered and rubbed his head against my leg.
"Bloody blast..." I whispered finally. "Yeah... It sure is..." That was the best I could do.
Something hit me from behind, hard. An instant later, I was forty feet in the air and climbing. I let out a scream that could surely be heard three states away.
"Louder!" rumbled Heero in my ear. "I love to hear that scream!" His arms wrapped around me as we shot heavenward.
I caught my breath and screamed again, this time consciously reaching for ultimate decibels.
Heero threw back his reptilian head and roared with laughter.
Heero's got this... kink, I guess you could call it. He loves to hear me scream. Not in pain! No, don't ever think he'd want to hurt me. He just... really likes the sound. We talked about it a little, and kind of decided that it might be from his Banshee side. Like maybe, it feels like a mating call or something.
I'm a little embarrassed to think about it like that, because I haven't let him get that close yet. I feel like I'm promising something when I scream, that I'm not ready to deliver. Which, you have to admit, is pretty crappy behavior on my part.
But Heero likes it, and he doesn't expect me to go further than I want to, so what the hell. When he's happy, I'm happy.
At the moment in question, though, I was just trying to figure out what was going on. I was about to find out, and I wasn't going to be really thrilled.
Heero stopped suddenly. Just put on the brakes and stopped in place. And tossed me straight up, in a spin.
You've seen the ice skaters do it, I'm sure. The guy tosses the girl up in the air and she does a spin and then he catches her when she comes down, and they continue with their routine. It's pretty to watch, but it must take a lot of falls and bruises to learn.
In my case, a fall of a couple thousand feet.
Just as I began to panic, though, he was there, scooping me into his arms and cuddling me close.
"You're a natural at this!" he laughed.
Natural or not, I had to glare at him. "Excuse me, lizard man, but you're supposed to warn me before you do things like that!"
He nuzzled that razor-sharp-teeth-lined snout against my neck and I giggled. I'm ticklish and he knows it.
"Did you really hate it?" he whispered.
I backed down, as I usually do. I don't hate it at all, but I feel like I should, so I always growl first and make up after. I kinda like the making up part. Maybe that's why I growl.
"Well... Maybe not," I allowed slowly. "But you don't have to scare me to get my attention," I purred.
"This is true," he agreed. "We'll go down now."
I know what that means: straight down at terminal velocity and a hard stall just before splattering. Does it scare me? Hell, yes! Do I worry about splattering? No.
Heero climbed another few hundred feet, then folded his wings and just... fell. I screamed all the way down, until his wings snapped open. We wrenched to a stop in midair, swapped ends gracefully, and settled lightly on the plateau.
Ragged applause greeted us. Heero morphed back into human form, still holding me in his arms.
He turned his deep blue eyes on me with a raised eyebrow. "Kiss, please?"
I reached up, digging my fingers into his dark hair, and kissed him soundly. Applause turned to cheers and encouraging roars. We ignored our audience until we had to come up for air.
"Thank you, my beautiful Banshee," Heero said softly.
"Thank you, capricious Wyvern," I returned, smirking.
"Capricious?" he demanded.
I patted his cheek. "It's your Banshee side, Heero; don't fret." He snorted and set me down.
"I'm just glad Wufei didn't see that," said Trowa, coming up to us. "He'd be ranting at me the rest of the day."
Heero and I looked at him.
Trowa shrugged his furry shoulders. "He's still grumpy because you kissed me at the theater and not him."
"But I kissed him that day... When he was acting so weird. Or he kissed me, I guess." The day Wufei had taken some human medication and been zonked on his dragon butt.
"He doesn't remember. Or he says he doesn't remember," clarified Trowa.
"He can just get over it," Heero growled. "The only one kissing Duo now, is me."
I smacked him lightly on the arm. "Whoa up there, big fella. You don't own me. Don't be making assumptions." I expected a glare; I got a faintly startled stare and an apology.
"Sorry, Duo. You're right." And he truly looked contrite.
I arched one eyebrow. "Accepted. I'll let you know when you can start breathing fire."
He bowed slightly and smirked. "I shall await your command, keeper of my heart."
That just made me turn so red. An excited young Puma romping up to Trowa saved me from any further color changes.
"Cousin, cousin! A dragon is coming!"
"Wufei?" Trowa asked.
"No! A little one, with a bag!"
"Ah! Thank you, Mindy. I'll call Wufei."
"A little dragon?" I echoed curiously.
"Mail from his Clan," Trowa explained, scanning the sky for the Were-Dragon.
"I've never seen a dragon around the castle," I said to Heero.
He shook his head. "Wufei only gets mail from them once or twice a year."
"That's all?" Trowa got mail all the time; I now knew why. I got mail several times a month from Shar and Teal. Heero had mail from his Clan and from friends around the world several times a week. I had assumed that Wufei also got mail, but now that I thought about it, I'd never seen him reading any sort of parchments.
Trowa growled. "I don't see him. Heero, would you mind?"
Heero huffed, but agreed. He changed again and leaped into the air to track down Wufei. He passed a small scarlet dragon as he went and they traded nods.
The little dragon landed near us and lifted the bag from around his (her?) neck.
Trowa loped over. "Welcome, messenger. Chang Wufei will be here directly; we are sorry to make you wait."
"Thank you, Master Puma. I am in no hurry," the dragon replied affably. "I shall enjoy the warm rock."
I wanted to ask Trowa why Wufei didn't get mail from his family, but I couldn't do it in front of the messenger. Instead, I bit down on my curiosity and found a shady spot to rest.
Heero was back very soon, Wufei trailing behind him reluctantly. They landed and Heero came to sit with me, arm around my shoulders. I think he meant to distract me from Wufei's conversation with the messenger dragon, and it worked pretty well.
By the time we'd run through our repertoire of kisses, the mail dragon was gone and Trowa and Wufei were murmuring together. Trowa had both arms (front legs?) resting on Wufei's shoulders in an almost-hug and Wufei's head was bent to rest against the Puma's furry chest.
Heero didn't give me a chance to ask questions.
"Okay, Wufei?" he asked quietly.
Wufei nodded and moved away from Trowa. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just the usual crap."
Heero nodded. "All right. I'm going to take Duo down with me. Buy you both lunch after we've cleaned up?"
"Sure," agreed Wufei with suspicious affability.
"Thank you, Heero," said Trowa. "There's a great little café in Claw Point."
The next thing I knew, we were airborne, spiraling lazily down on a hot air current.
"Heero, what's going on? Why doesn't Wufei hear from his family more often?"
"I can't discuss that with you, Duo. It's personal to Wufei."
"But you all know. I feel like an outsider..." I didn't mean to sound petulant, but that's exactly how I sounded. "Shit," I muttered. "Sorry, Heero. You're right; it's none of my business."
"It's an on-going conflict," he said a moment later, "with his parents. More than that, you'll have to ask him."
I chewed on that for a few minutes. "Will he be upset if I ask?" If it were going to bother him, I'd just as soon drop it. I didn't like people prying into my background, why should he be any different?
"I doubt it," Heero replied after a few minutes. "He may find it flattering that you would ask." I could just hear the amused tone in his voice.
"Maybe I could seduce him into telling me..." I teased.
Heero turned a single metallic blue eye on me like a 1000-watt spotlight. "You will not seduce him into anything," he growled, and his arms tightened around me.
I snickered and leaned my head against his chest. Some things Heero just has no sense of humor about.
TBC...
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