Kyuuketsuki Duo: The TV Series Episode 11
Bad Religion -- Part 5
Violet eyes scanned the plaza, looking for the source of his disquietude. He had been passing by when he felt a small twinge of the otherworldly lurking about, and decided to check it out.
His eyes narrowed in irritation when he found what he was looking for, and half-expecting. With a determined sigh, he affected a casual air and strolled out into the small crowd towards the old tiled fountain in the middle of the square.
The blonde in the pure white sundress seated on the edge of the fountain looked up at his approach, and smiled pleasantly at him. "Duo," she greeted, adding a small nod of greeting and respect.
"Dorothy," he greeted in response. He smiled at her as if he were meeting an old friend, well aware of the innocent and ignorant passersby surrounding them, yet his smile maintained an edge. He took a seat beside her on the fountain's edge. "Fancy meeting you here."
"I was hoping I would see you here, Duo," she responded silkily. "You are my favorite person in this entire city, after all."
"Really." Duo let that one word sit heavily in the air between them for a short while before continuing. "So was there something I could do for you?"
"Oh, I just wanted to talk, that's all." When Duo granted her a skeptical look, she laid a light hand on his thigh in a friendly, placating gesture. "Is it that difficult to believe? I just realized that it's been a small while since last we met, and I'm falling woefully behind on your current events. So much can happen in such a small amount of time, you know." Her ice blue eyes sparkled mischievously in the sunlight. "And I like to keep track of my friends."
Duo firmly commanded his leg not to shiver beneath the chill touch of the snow demon. "Oh, you know me," he answered neutrally. "Same old, same old."
"Well, that's pleasant to hear, Duo," she enthused brightly. "Business is running smoothly, I trust?"
"As always." Another cool, confidently edged smile accompanied the statement. "It's been a little more busy than usual, lately, but nothing I can't handle, I assure you." He laid his own hand on top of Dorothy's on his leg, halting its slow, upward advance.
She glanced mock-coyly at him from beneath long lashes, then pulled her hand out from beneath his and back into her own lap with a small, mysterious smile. "Excellent. I was worried for a while there, you know."
"Oh?"
"Indeed. I heard you'd been stirring up trouble, recently."
Ah, finally, the punchline. "Well, isn't that curious. Do tell."
She leaned in, as if to impart a great secret, and her long fall of pale hair tumbled over her shoulder as if to provide a thin curtain between them and the rest of the world. "Word is, you've been indulging yourself."
Duo raised his eyebrows in mild surprise, and as much as he hated to encourage the demon, he was trying to maintain an urbane air of civility. Luckily, so was Dorothy. "How so?" he prompted.
"I've heard...." She trailed off in a dramatic pause, and cast her eyes around them in an exaggeratedly conspiratorial manner as she tossed her hair back over her shoulder once more. "That you're... being a little less discreet and a little less discriminating in your appetites."
"Really," Duo purred lazily, inwardly disturbed by the allegations. "That's not my style, you know that, Dorothy."
"No, I suppose not," she pouted. "But one can always hope, can't one?" The pout slowly transformed into a chilling smirk.
He shot her a sharp look, but quickly tempered his incipient snarl into a one-sided grin. "Do tell me where you get your information, dear," he drawled.
"Well, nowhere specific, I'm afraid. Here and there. Mostly local, I suppose. I don't get the impression that anyone's trying to stir up any trouble for you by degrading such a fine creature as yourself to the level of your lesser brethren. No trouble among the sorts with which I associate, at least." She leveled a loaded look at him.
With an acknowledging nod, he accepted the warning from her as genuine and true, yet remained unclear as to what her motivations in this were. She had had her own twisted reasons for both supporting and opposing him in the past. "I appreciate the information, Dorothy," he thanked her cordially as he rose to his feet and dusted off his rump. "Perhaps I will be repaying the favor one day?"
"Not a favor at all, Duo, not at all," she denied demurely. "I frown upon others making trouble for my two darling friends."
"Of course. Only you have that privilege, isn't that right?" he asked with a barbed smile.
"Of course," she replied with an elegant smile of her own. She stood as well, and smoothed the non-existent wrinkles from her dress. Only then did Duo notice the white embroidered snowflakes that decorated the hem of her skirt, so out of place on a sundress. "Until next time, my darling?"
"Until next time," Duo murmured absently as their eyes locked, ice blue to hard amethyst, and a moment of charged electricity seemed to pass between them.
"I look forward to it. Do say hello to Heero for me." The snow demon bobbed down briefly in a small curtsey, and kept her eyes on his for as long as she reasonably could as she smoothly glided away through the mortal mass.
The guardian watched her leave with a steady gaze, and didn't move until she had turned the corner and passed out of his sight. Then he sighed imperceptibly, and began his own journey home. He and Heero had something else to look into, now.
*****
Someone watched both of them depart with hard, dark brown eyes.
Wufei may not have been familiar with what the creature that night had termed itself -- Shinma -- but he could recognize a demon when it made no attempt to hide itself.
This was it. This was the proof he needed, for why else would Duo have been conversing so easily and amiably with a demon if he was not a demon himself? Strangely, the conclusion brought him no satisfaction.
Question now was, what would he do with his knowledge?
*****
"Heero?" Duo called as soon as he entered the door of their home.
The object of his summons quickly appeared. "Okaeri," he greeted.
Duo plopped himself down at the low coffee table in the living room. Heero's brow quirked as he joined his partner wordlessly on the other side of the table. Apparently, they were about to talk business.
"Dorothy says hello," Duo started, irritation leaking into his voice.
Oh. Her. Trouble typically came knocking when she did. "Hn. What else did she say?"
"In a nutshell, someone's out to get me."
Heero looked at his partner as if to say, 'what else is new?' As a guardian, his mere existence was threatening to some, offensive to others. It was only natural that he had a lot of people who didn't like him. "Someone dangerous?"
"I don't know," Duo sighed. "I want to look into it, though, definitely. Dorothy seemed to imply that someone's been spreading nasty rumors about me, but not among anyone she'd hang out with."
"Humans?" Dorothy was known by them to associate with demons and Shinma alike. Higher order Shinma, at least. And Duos and Heeros, of course.
"Yeah, maybe. That's what I was thinking, too." He sighed again, and laid his head down wearily in his arms on the table. "Oh, gods, I hope not. I really, really hope not."
Heero tentatively laid a hand on his hair in reassurance. "You've been busy, recently," he realized aloud.
"Oh, dear." Duo closed his eyes as if he could shut out the incoming trouble. "Diversion, you think?"
"Possible."
"Damn." Diversion meant planning, and maybe long-term groundwork. Maybe a conspiracy of more than one, but not likely. Just one who was willing to sacrifice Shinma to the guardian to act as a screen. Duo took a deep breath and opened troubled eyes. "Guess we'll just have to take care of it, then," he said. His voice was disturbingly flat and empty to Heero's ears.
Heero's hand stroked his head lightly, reminding him of his constant presence. "We always do, Duo. We always do."
TBC...
to make things clear, this is the day after chapter 4, in the after school hours. nothing much happened in the interim, just more wufei agonizing and duo shinma-hunting. i figure it's a thursday or so.
size-wise, i'd combine this with chapter 4, but i'm trying to keep the time periods separate to make things clearer.
Back to Jei's Fanfictions Page