Author: Blue ^__^
Category: AU, 1x2x1
Rating: NC-17
Warnings: Yaoi, lemon, language, blood, supernatural.
Spoilers: *snicker* Yeah, right.
Note: See previous notes. I'm all out of babble.

Blurry Moon + Part Six

There was something hot against my skin, pulsing with every breath I took. It spread, trailing through me and melding with the ache in my groin. I groaned, shifted and felt softness against my cheek. I took a deep breath, smelling rain and the burning focused into the three separate points of Duo's marks. My eyes flew open and I gasped. My body felt too heavy to move; I looked around as best I could, not recognizing my surroundings. I saw nothing but the bed I lay on and the darkness beyond. It was hard to think, my head felt like it was stuffed full of cotton. Lying still, I waited for the heaviness in my limbs to fade.

"Are you finally awake?" Duo's voice was near, coming from above me. I glanced up and realized that my head was resting in his lap, his thumb gently stroking my cheek. The weight I felt had gradually subsided, and I tried to move again but his hands were on my shoulders, holding me there.

"What did you do?"

"Brought you here, nothing more," he said softly, sending an involuntary shiver through me.

"Let me up." His voice was like a double-edged sword; I both loved and hated the effect it had on me.

Duo sighed, but moved his hands. I sat up and half-crawled, half-scooted away from him. It wasn't a graceful move, but it got me where I wanted to be. The distance between us was superficial and we both knew it. Still, it made me feel marginally better and the burning of the marks lessened. I could think clearly again.

"You make everything so difficult, Heero," he said, leaning back against the headboard.

I grunted at him. "I make everything difficult," I repeated, letting the sarcasm show in my voice. "Just what do you think you're doing, if not making things difficult?"

Duo stretched his legs out, crossing them at the ankles. He watched me silently, his face beautiful but blank. It was like staring at a statue, something to admire, but too flawless to be real. I sat there and glowered at him, seething in annoyance.

"If you're asking me to change what happened, to make everything disappear, I can't," he said, meeting my eyes. "You called me and I came, you offered and I received."

"I didn't-"

"You're lying to yourself, and you know it. I'll accept that blame, but it won't change a thing," he said, cutting me off. I fell silent under his gaze, burning now not with power, but with truth.

I wanted to ask why; why me, why everything, but I already knew the answer. I couldn't explain it, I barely understood it, and I still didn't accept it. The important question was, what was I going to do about it? I didn't think I'd just be able to forget Duo, that would be impossible. But I couldn't forget myself, either. I wouldn't give in to him, and I didn't think I could keep him away. I was stuck and couldn't think of a way to save myself. I'd never liked the idea of fate. It was almost ironic.

"What are you so desperately thinking about?" Duo's voice cut through my musings.

"What to do about you," I said shortly.

He raised both of his eyebrows, his expression mildly surprised and curious. It softened his face and made him seem more real, less perfect. "And?"

"You're a self-assured, controlling bastard." I was repeating myself.

"I've been called much worse."

I could imagine, I'd called him worse in my own mind quite recently.

"But I don't want to control you."

That made me stop and blink. I looked at him through narrowed eyes.

"If I just wanted to own you, Heero, I'd have done it long ago." He shifted on the bed, piling the pillows behind him instead of leaning on the headboard. "And that's not arrogance, it's the simple truth. It's part of who ­ what ­ I am."

"That's a matter of opinion."

He smiled, quick and easy. Genuine. "So, what do you do now?"

I was struck speechless and tried to keep my face from showing it. It was a losing battle. "What?" I asked.

"Will you ignore what's happened or let me show you more?"

"Duo," I started, a warning tone in my voice.

He shook his head slightly. "I mean to show you what you've already gained, not force you further."

I gave him a doubting look. "What choice do I have?"

"Yes or no, it's your choice, and yours only."

"And I'm supposed to trust you." I felt my resolve wavering under my own damned curiosity. I'd be left always wondering if I denied him now.

"I give you my word."

"That's not enough."

"Please," he said.

The please caught me off guard. I looked at him, tried to see behind his eyes to what he was thinking. "What do you want to show me?" I asked, letting the suspicion creep into my voice.

"The night," he said with eager light swirling among the colors of his eyes.

+

The sky above me rolled in upon itself, roiling in the great black dome. The cold moon was hidden, as were the stars, but the world outside was still bright. The winds curled around me, toying with my hair and clothes. It was cooler now, I still smelled rain on the air, felt the dampness in the wind. The chill in the air was a welcome change.

Duo stood beside me, his hair blown back by a gust to leave his face unobstructed. His eyes seemed darker without the hair to distract from them. He was smiling, truly happy to be standing outside in the dark with the storm threatening. It was infectious when he laughed as the wind buffeted us.

"Everything is so alive at night," he said, not turning to me. "You can hear the world's heart beat, feel it pound under your feet."

I looked at him out of the corner of my eye. I felt nothing but the wind. I wasn't sure I wanted to feel anything else. "I don't hear anything."

"Heero." He turned to face me. "You've heard it before. I know you have. You told me as much." His expression was reproachful.

I let out a short sigh. "I don't know what you want me to do."

"Do what you did before."

I looked away from him, out at the city lights. Everything was so bright, like it was brought too sharply into focus. We were standing in the wooded park, and it was just us and the night. I peered into the trees, searching the shadows. I thought I saw movement, but a closer look revealed nothing.

I had no idea what I had done before that let me feel what Duo was talking about. It had just happened. I was about to tell him as much when I caught the same movement again, a white smudge in the dark. It was a man, walking along the path and headed towards us. I glanced at Duo; he didn't seem to have noticed. He was watching me expectantly.

The smell of spices, something nearly smoky that was foreign and unique wafted through the air. The man had broken the line of trees and I could clearly see his clothes, the Asian features of his face, despite the distance between us. Duo's eyes flicked to him, then back to me. I had no idea what was going on.

The man in white moved steadily closer, unconcerned with the two of us standing in the middle of his path. He didn't seem to take note of us at all. Five feet away, and the smell grew stronger. Two feet, and I could taste it like something warm and thick on my tongue. Then he passed close between us and the world slowed down, time crawling by.

His hair, raven black, darker than the sky above us, was loose. Straight and close to shoulder-length, it flowed out behind him in the wind, almost brushing my face he was that near to me. Eyes as black as the hair were focused straight ahead, startlingly vivid. His skin looked almost bronze where shadows fell across him, a paler gold in the light. It was then that I knew the smell in the air was him, was the scent of his skin. I could taste him in my mouth, and he was oblivious to it all.

I stared at Duo as the man moved out of my line of sight, and he was smiling. I turned my eyes away from him and I focused on the world beyond. I could feel it now, the ebb and flow around me, the ponderous turning of the world, the pulsing life under me. I felt life stretching for miles and miles on every side.

There were insects darting through the air. A squirrel nearby perched motionless in a tree. There was a dog at the edge of the park, and further beyond that, men and women, some hurrying and some not, through the streets. I kept moving further and further away until I felt like I would spread myself too thin and be lost on the wind.

Duo's voice uttering my name brought me back. He was standing behind me, murmuring into my ear, his hands a warm weight on my arms. I blinked, gasped and leaned back into him, my legs suddenly to weak to hold me. The throbbing heartbeat of the world lessened, becoming white noise in the background.

"You move through this all the time?" I asked and my voice came out a little too breathy.

"Once the sun has gone, yes." He rubbed his hands along the length of my arms, trying to comfort me, I think. It reminded me of the power in the wind last night, soothing and gentle.

"Why? How . . . how is it so . . . ." I paused, searching for a word. My brain didn't want to cooperate; I felt blackness nipping at the corners of my vision. "Intense?"

"I can feel it because I'm not really a part of it. Most of the time, I move outside of it." His tone should have been longing to match the wistful-sounding words as he said them, but it wasn't. "When you are a part of something from the very beginning throughout your existence, you tend to not notice it. I feel the world beating, animate and alive, because I am not."

I had time to mutter, "Shit," before the darkness ate my sight and swallowed me whole.

+

My first thought when I came to was that I had to stop passing out. I was losing huge chunks of time and it was beginning to severely annoy me. My second thought was of how I was getting from place to place and then back again. Logic dictated that Duo was carrying me around, and that really did aggravate me. Firstly because I wasn't conscious to enjoy it, and secondly because I actually had that first thought.

I felt a smile on my lips, amused despite myself at the circles my mind was going in. I sat up slowly, scrubbing my hands over my face. I was still wearing my clothes from last night, so he had at least resisted the urge to strip me. I had a quick moment of conflicting feelings about that before I snorted and pushed it to the back of my mind. A glance at the clock told me it was just past three in the afternoon. Saturday afternoon, if I hadn't lost another full day somewhere.

A week had gone by since I had first encountered Duo.

I wondered again what I was going to do. Last night had confirmed it; I couldn't abandon the . . . power I'd tasted, and I wouldn't simply surrender myself. I still didn't know what option number three was, I'd find out sooner or later. Duo would show up again, of that I had no doubt. What he would do once he did show up, though . . . I wasn't that surprised to discover I was more than a little eager to find that out, too. Despite everything, I still wanted Duo to fulfill his promise, and I knew the price. I'd heard an old saying along those lines, once. If I pay thee not in gold . . . .

I got up, showered and went over ­ and then over again ­ what was happening to me. Everything I had encountered up to this point insisted that vampires wanted one of two things of a human: blood or possession. Blood I didn't seem to have much of a problem with, there was glaring evidence of that on my skin. Being reduced to a possession was much more debatable. Yet, Duo had said, more than once, that he didn't want to simply own me, and he'd already gotten my blood. I knew what he wanted from me next, and I was perilously close to giving it to him, but beyond that, I was lost.

I sat down on the couch, clad in pajama pants and steaming coffee mug in hand. I was waiting again. It seemed like I spent every day now waiting for night to finally arrive, some days more anxiously than others. I was different, irreversibly changed. The phone rang, shrill and sudden. I jumped, nearly spilling my coffee. I set the mug down and walked quickly to the phone, wincing as it rung again. I turned the volume down as I picked up the receiver and said, "Hello?"

There was a short pause, then, "Hello, Heero."

I slumped back against the wall, free hand flat against it. Duo's voice was soft, flowing across the line and sounding as if he were there, in person. It was ridiculous. Telephone wires shouldn't be able to convey that sound.

"Duo," I said by way of greeting. Of all the things that had happened, this one struck me as the strangest. A vampire using a telephone. It seemed too . . . normal. My sense of normal was becoming skewed. "What do you want?"

"That was a harsh greeting."

I grunted. He remained silent.

"Well?" I pressed, my nearly non-existent patience running out.

"I'd like to invite you to visit me."

"What?" I blurted.

He heaved a long sigh. "I'm inviting you to my home."

"Why?"

"You're not gifted at phone conversations, either," he said. "I'd like to see you, Heero, without trudging through the city all night."

"Why your place?" I couldn't wrap my brain around the concept of Duo casually inviting me over to his . . . residence. It just didn't work. It was like inviting me on a date. I started to laugh quietly. If Duo ever invited me out for drinks, I knew what was on the menu.

[cont]