Author's note: This chapter deserves an angst warning and a slight apology. I am not nice to one of the characters in this chapter. Gomen.

Marked for Death Part 3

The next morning Duo and Heero were washed up and the mud was completely gone. Heero was given back his small slitted tunic, much to his pleasure, and Duo had rebraided his hair to make up for the mess it had been in the day before. Heero noted it was the only time he'd ever seen Duo take down his hair.

Now that he thought about it, as they walked down the hall toward the dining room, he'd never seen Duo take down his hair. Keeping hair at such a length was quite strange, even if one was a noble. Most people kept their hair at lengths that were manageable unless they had many personal servants. Long hair required a lot of care, more then any well-to-do person or peasant was willing to deal with. Duo had to have the longest hair he'd seen in a long time... it was almost as if the boy never even cut it.

They entered the main dinning hall, stepping right into the scene of an argument. Wufei stood in front of his chair, his fists rested angrily on the table as Darrin stood across from him. The place where Duo usually sat had the chair overturned and the plate was lying on the floor, food scattered around.

Duo froze in his steps, watching the two yell at each other, Heero stopped a step behind him.

"You have no right to disobey my orders! Why would you choose now, of all times, to bring this up?" Wufei growled angrily at his father's advisor.

Darrin merely stood there, his hands crossed over his chest and a small look of triumph on his face. "Your father is due back any day now and I am only trying to help you, highness. You know very well that your actions concerning your Shadow these last few weeks have been incorrect and faulty. I am only thinking of your well being. What would happen if your father walked in this very moment to see your Shadow sitting at the table with us as an equal?"

Heero watched as Duo's body stiffened in front of him, the boy's hands clutching into tight fists, but he made no other movement or sound.

"I will take care of my father-" Wufei protested, but his voice wasn't as strong this time.

"And you would sacrifice the rest of us? Think, highness, of your actions! Were your father to walk in this very moment he would punish all of us for letting you continue in this foolish act."

The prince shut his eyes and hit the table with one of his fists, cursing loudly.

"If you treat him as an equal he will not forget and he will remind you of it constantly. The Shadow is ignored for a reason! You and I both know this. As does your father."

Wufei's eyes snapped open and he starred at Darrin in disbelief for a moment, then his eyes narrowed. "You... you would tell him." He said softly.

Darrin nodded. "For your own good, so you don't make the same mistake again."

The prince's eyes flickered to Duo and Heero could see the fear in them.

"Let me teach him and you the lesson now, and I promise not to say anything in the future. Twenty now will save him fifty later."

Wufei's body seemed to collapse and he dropped back into his chair, holding his face in his hands. Heero could see the young prince's lips quiver softly as his dark black eyes glanced toward Duo in fear and pain.

Meanwhile Duo's head had dropped and he now looked at the floor, acting the way Heero did most of the time. His grin was gone and his entire cheerful manner seemed to have disappeared into thin air. This wasn't Duo! This was someone completely different that Heero had never met before. What happened to the Duo he'd known... who'd been standing in front of him only seconds ago? Heero blinked and shook his head. Twenty to prevent fifty... he didn't mean...!

Darrin stepped forward and walked past Duo, pausing to eye him for a moment with a look of scorn, then walked out of the dinning room.

"I'm sorry," Wufei said softly.

Duo only nodded once then turned to follow Darrin. He stopped for a moment but didn't glance up at Heero. "Stay here, Heero." He said quietly, then he followed Darrin out of the room, his entire mood radiating a kind of defeat.

Heero stood watching in disbelief. His mind refused to comprehend what he'd just witnessed. Duo had crumbled before his eyes, turning into a small and submissive child at the mercy of an angry and abusive parent. All Heero could think about was the broken look on Duo's face and his memory of the scars which had crossed Duo's back.

Behind him he heard Wufei murmur softly.

"Duo... I'm so sorry."

~*~

It seemed like an eternity passed before the door to Duo's room opened. Heero jumped up immediately from the place where he'd been sitting on the bed and ran forward, reaching Duo just in time to catch him before he crumbled to the floor.

"Nice catch," Duo said in a soft and choked voice. He tried to give Heero a small smile but his face contorted in pain and it was lost.

Heero quickly helped Duo to the bed where he laid him down on his stomach. Moving with careful hands he slowly lifted away the shirt, which had been thrown over Duo's back and was now soaked with dark lines of blood. Pulling away the fabric he moved it over Duo's head and winced as he heard Duo hiss in pain.

His eyes widened as he saw the crisscrossing slashes that now covered Duo's back. Angry red lines laced over the previous scar tissue, moving the entire length and width of his back. Whoever did this had had a lot of practice. They knew exactly how to make each slash hurt. A true expert in pain. Heero was beginning to like Darrin less and less with every minute.

Heero set to work without much thought. Taking the baggy shirt he'd been given the day before for horse riding he ripped it into long shreds. It only took a second to hunt down a container for water, which he quickly brought back to the room. Then, with painstaking care he set to work cleaning each of the wounds.

Duo protested at first with small cries of pain, but those soon dropped into soft whimpers. It seemed to take forever to clean away the blood and then lay fresh wet strips over the wounds. Many bloody rags later Heero was done and Duo seemed to have calmed down.

Heero washed his hands in the blood soaked water, trying to get them as clean as possible.

"Heero..."

He glanced up toward Duo in question.

The boy lay stomach down on the bed, his face tired and his eyes nearly sliding shut. But he ventured to move his arm, despite the pain, and placed his hand on Heero's shoulder. "Thanks."

Heero flashed him a light smile and nodded.

Duo's eyes slid shut and pulled his arm back, drifting off to a light sleep.

Heero picked up the bowl and carried it carefully to the door. He moved down the hall to empty it in a waste room. Surprisingly, on his way back, he found Wufei walking toward Duo's door. Heero had to restrain himself from glaring angrily at the young prince.

As far as Heero was concerned Wufei had no right to even look at Duo any more. Heero wasn't stupid, he'd understood enough of the argument between Darrin and Wufei to know that Wufei had a pretty good idea this would happen. And yet he'd still allowed it. Wufei didn't deserve to get anywhere near Duo, much less to have him as a friend.

"How is he?" Wufei asked when he caught sight of Heero.

"Sleeping." Heero said softly, restraining himself from further comment.

Wufei nodded briefly. He opened his mouth to say something else but the words must have died in his throat for he said nothing more. Instead he merely gave Heero another nod and turned away, heading back the way he came.

Heero contented himself to glare menacingly at the prince's retreating back.

~*~

Nearly a week passed with Heero nursing Duo back to health. Duo protested at first, telling the servant boy that he'd been through much worse in the past. Twenty lashes was hardly anything, compared to the number he usually got. The only reason it affected him so badly was he hadn't been whipped for such a long time...

But Heero didn't listen to the protests. He didn't outright disagree with Duo; no well-trained slave or servant would dare do such a thing. Instead he merely gave Duo this look that indicated he knew best and that he wouldn't take no for an answer. Duo found out the servant boy could be quite persuasive when he wanted to. Finally Duo just stopped protesting and let the servant boy take care of him.

His mind switched from protesting to thinking about the strange mannerisms of his newly gained servant. After all, what else could he really do when Heero refused to let him leave the bed and those cold wet cloths lay over his back to help it heal? So instead he considered the strange boy.

At first glance he was the perfect little servant boy, trained (apparently) in many arts involving his hands and fingers. He knew when to be gentle and when to be stubborn and Duo suspected this wasn't just from his normal training. Or was it? Maybe he was also trained to be stubborn and resist in some cases to resist to heighten sexual pleasure. Either way Heero knew what he was doing when he cleaned Duo's wounds and tended to him. Which just didn't seem like the type of thing a professional 'bed warmer' would be familiar with.

Another interesting thing that Duo soon discovered was that Heero snuck out late at night to steal food for him from the kitchen. That in itself was quite a feat considering Duo himself had never been able to accomplish it without getting caught. But some how Heero always managed to return with at least a loaf of bread and a small flask of something to drink, which he would then feed to Duo. He saved only a small amount for himself, and even then it was at Duo's insistence.

Nights were spent with Heero rechecking the wet cloths and replacing the ones that had dried or occasionally filled with blood, but most of the bleeding had stopped that first night. Then, after he was done tending to Duo and thought Duo had drifted off to sleep, Heero curled up at the foot of the bed and slept there in a small ball.

With every passing day Heero seemed to be more comfortable around Duo. His eyes rarely settled on the floor anymore, now meeting Duo's without much trouble or even a second thought most of the time. Heero even flashed an occasional small smile now and then thanks to Duo's remarks and own grins. He was slowly making the boy more comfortable and less skittish. The two even had normal conversations a couple times. They'd only lasted a few minutes but at least Heero was comfortable enough to form full sentences and not just one word inquiries.

Things were progressing very well.

Which only made Duo want to get out of bed and back on his feet sooner. He was growing restless!

Wufei, meanwhile, was wallowing in his own guilt. He managed to hide it as well as he could, but he still couldn't get the image of Duo's defeated figure out of his mind each night when he got ready for sleep.

He'd tried so hard for the past few years to make sure Duo didn't get punished. Ever since that day when Duo had first been whipped, not nearly a month before Sorata disappeared, Wufei had tried to do everything perfectly. He'd worked himself to the bone to remember his lessons and all the rules that had been drilled into his mind. He'd done everything he could to keep Duo safe ever since he found out his actions could cause such pain to his friend. But somehow he always seemed to mess up.

He'd thought he could, just this once, give Duo a small measure of freedom... something he so desperately deserved for all he'd been through. But, as usual, the plan backfired and Darrin had been there to see everything crumble. That annoyance of an advisor was always there to see him fail and rub it in by leading Duo away to be whipped.

Every single attempt he'd ever made to try and give Duo a better life had always blown up in his face. Why did he even keep trying when he knew it would fail? The answer was that he knew Duo deserved every small bit of happiness he could give the boy. And no matter how many times Duo got whipped or how many times he was punished he always returned with a smile on his face and thanked Wufei for the small amount of freedom he had been allowed.

That small thanks almost made it worth doing again...

Wufei shook his head and clasped the edge of his bedroom window, looking out at the stormy sky.

No, he refused to do it again. He refused to let Duo get hurt! And yet...

And yet he felt so powerless and confused.

His shoulders slumped as the feeling of defeat radiated over his body. No matter what his thoughts he knew there was one truth, once again he managed to hurt his only friend. Unforgivable. Unforgivable no matter what the circumstances!

Growling he slammed his fist into the wall, wincing at the pain which flowed up his arm. Almost as if in response the wind outside built up into a loud whirl, whistling through the trees and between the towers. Yes, it would definitely storm tonight. How fitting considering his current mood.

Behind him he heard the door rattle. Turning he eyed it for a moment but found it still shut. Must have been the wind...

Wufei crossed the room, tugging his robe tightly around his body, and checked the latch. Then he crossed the room and crawled into his bed, pausing only to blow out the candle on his bedside table and let the room drop into twilight.

Rolling over under the thick blankets he rested on his back and closed his eyes. Silently he willed his thoughts to give him peace. He knew he wouldn't do anyone any good if he lacked sleep. Lack of sleep would only cause him to make more mistakes... would make Duo suffer more.

Sleep was fast in coming, and he nearly drifted off a moment later. In fact he would have if he hadn't heard a strange noise off to the side. It wasn't something he could describe really... only it sounded like a smooth surface sliding against another-

Something cold touched his neck.

Metal.

Sharp.

Wufei's eyes snapped open and widened as a hand clasped over his mouth to silence him.

The prince stared up in disbelief to see a figure leaning over him, holding a small, cold blade to his throat.

"Where is Sorata?" Demanded the familiar voice.

~*~

Duo blinked open his eyes and glanced around the room. Lightning flashed outside his window, giving the room momentary illumination. Sitting up he glanced around again and was surprised to find the end of the bed empty. Where was Heero?

Letting the cold cloth slip from his back he crawled slowly out of the bed and pulled on a long and baggy dark purple tunic. His back only throbbed lightly as the fabric brushed against it but he felt nothing else. His wounds seemed to have mostly healed over.

Frowning he stepped out of his bedroom and moved down the hall. He wasn't really worried about Heero, knowing that the servant boy had probably snuck off to the kitchen to steal them some food. Instead he walked merely because he needed to. Staying in bed for so long had made him restless and he needed to get up and move around or he felt he would go insane.

It wasn't long before he found himself near Wufei's room, his feet carrying him there nearly on instinct. Shrugging to himself he pushed open the door, intent on talking with his friend and making sure he didn't feel guilty for what had happened. After all, it wasn't Wufei's fault that Darrin took such sick pleasure in each whipping.

He pushed open the door just as another bolt of lightning flashed across the sky, illuminating the prince's room.

Duo's eyes widened in surprise as the scene flashed to light before him.

Wufei lay in the bed, his eyes wide with fear as a slim figure crouched over, holding a gleaming red blade against the prince's neck.

But that wasn't the most startling part. Instead it was that the slim figure crouching over the prince was Heero! And he was covered with strange markings all over his arms.

Tattoos.

Duo's mind flashed in panic.

No.

Not possible.

Not possible!

Heero was a Marked One?!

TBC...

 

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