Archive : Email me first
Author : Akuma
Pairings : 1+2/2+1, 3+4/4+3 implied
Rating : PG 13....maybe for the last time *sweatdrops*
Warning : yaoi, sap, AU, fusion with Kanata Kara
Disclaimer : GW characters are not mine. >_<

Key :
"..." : spoken word
//...// : thoughts
<<...>> : telepathy word

From Far Away + Part 10

"Heero! Are you okay?" Quatre knelt next to the trembling boy, very worried.

"Hey, Quatre, is that you?" Wufei's voice was heard.

"Yes! Wufei, come here! There's something wrong with Heero."

After fighting his own body's reaction for some time, Heero felt the pain subside and his breath become steady. He vaguely heard someone talking and opened his eyes.

"Ah, he opened his eyes!" Relena's relieved voice was registered.

"Heero, are you okay?" Heero turned his head and saw Quatre kneeling next to him, looking worried.

"I'm okay." Heero looked around and saw Sally, Noin, and Hilde behind Trowa and Wufei. The girls had heard Quatre's shouting and quickly joined them. However Heero knew someone was missing. "Where's Duo?"

All his friends looked at one another questioningly.

"Hilde? You were with him, weren't you?" Noin spoke up.

Hilde bit her lower lip. "I'm sorry, Heero. I lost Duo in the fog."

"What?" Heero quickly sat up.

"Heero, slow down. You just fainted. It'll do no good if you force your body." Wufei told the stoic boy.

"I'm fine." Heero growled and stood up. //Duo, where are you?//

<<Heero! Is that you?>>

<<Duo?>>

<<Who else? Are you okay? I'm worried about you.>>

<<I can say the same, baka. Where are you now?>> Heero growled, oblivious his friends who eyed him in confusion.

"What is he doing?" Wufei asked no one in particular.

"I think he's talking with Duo, just like he did last night." Sally answered, eyes still watching Heero.

Heero, who had finished his conversation, turned to the others. "I'm going to fetch Duo."

"Do you know where he is?" Relena asked.

Heero nodded.

"I'll go with you." Hilde stepped forward but Heero shook his head.

"No, I can do it alone. Just wait for us here and light some fire. Duo said that monster is afraid of fire."

"How did he know?" Noin turned to ask.

Heero shrugged. "He said a ghost told him."

"Ghost??" All of them choked up.

"Yes, a ghost. True or not, I'm going to find out about it. Wait right here." Heero left them and ran toward the direction Duo had told him. Hilde, who intended to follow, had to hold back her intentions when she saw Heero disappear from her sight in two seconds.

Quite far away from there, Duo was digging something in the ground.

"Ah, is this it?" Duo held up a soil-covered-gold cross.

Solo, who was floating in front of Duo, grinned. "Yes, that's my cross."

"So what do I gotta do with this?" Duo cleaned the cross. It was beautiful and well carved.

"Throw it to the main body of the monster. I'll take care of the rest after that."

"Take care?" Duo raised an eyebrow. "You can calm those children's souls?"

Solo nodded. "Yes, but I need a part of me near them. Something they'll recognize as mine."

"That's why you need me. No one can see you except me and you can't touch anything; including this cross..." Duo eyed the cross.

"DUO!"

Duo looked up and saw Heero approaching him. "Heero!" The braided boy smiled and stood up.

Heero stood before him. His breath was steady, betraying how fast he had run to find Duo. "Are you okay?"

Duo grinned. "I should ask you the same question."

"I'm fine." Heero frowned and then raised his hand to caress Duo's cheek.

"Heero?" Duo's eyes widened.

"You have dirt on your cheek." Heero explained flatly and cleaned the dirt with the sleeve of his tunic.

Duo watched Heero as the boy focused to his cleaning task. He then remembered his conversation with Hilde and felt his heart burst in happiness. The boy before him right now was his koi, his mate, his lover! Heero accepted him as his koi without knowing Duo had misunderstood the meaning of koi at the first time. That meant ....Heero loved him, ne? He had to or he would not accept Duo as his koi.

Heero finished cleaning Duo's cheek and was about to pull his hand when Duo grabbed his hand and kissed it tenderly. "Duo?" Heero was really surprised at Duo's action.

Duo looked at Heero, still holding his hand, and smiled. "Omae o kisu, Heero." [1]
He was not surprised to see Heero widen his eyes. The stoic boy opened his mouth but nothing came out. Duo chuckled and leaned down, accomplishing what he had said.

Heero was stunned as Duo captured his lips. What was Duo doing? Kissing him? Really kissing him? He could feel those firm lips against his. Duo was definitely kissing him.

Duo pulled away and encircled his hands around Heero's waist, pulling the stunned boy closer to him.He couldn't help but grin as he saw those prussian blue eyes stare at him widely in shock. "Never thought I actually knew the meaning ne, Heero?"

Heero blinked. "Ho...How?"

"I figured it out after I knew the meaning of 'omae o korosu'. I didn't let you know about this because it's fun to see your reaction when I ask you about the meaning." Duo grinned as he saw Heero fuming.

"Omae o korosu!"

Duo rolled his eyes. "As if you'll do it to me."

Surprisingly, Heero did something that was really out of character for him. He pouted. Heero Yuy was pouting for the first time. Never in his life had someone teased him like this.

Duo chuckled. Heero didn't know how adorable he was while pouting. Those delicate lips seemed to tell him to kiss them. And Duo did surrender to temptation. He leaned forward and kissed the stoic warrior once again.

Heero gasped in surprise as Duo kissed him again. He could feel Duo's tongue entering his slightly opened mouth. What happened? Why did Duo kiss him? It was not right. Only a koi might kiss his lips like this and Duo had said that Heero was not his koi. So why??

But his mind stopped thinking as the tongue licked and sucked his mouth, awakening many sensations that were alien to Heero. He never felt something so intense like this. The invading tongue was teasing his tongue right now. First, he didn't know what to do except shy away. But as Duo's tongue kept teasing his, Heero started responding. He moaned and welcomed Duo's invasion with his own tongue.This felt good, really good.

They were panting when they broke some moments later. Duo watched as the boy in his arms gasped for air. "Beautiful." The Prussian eyes blinked and focused on Duo. "You're beautiful, Heero."

"Sorry to disturb you guys but we have no time." Solo interrupted them, coughing a little.

Duo turned to Solo. "No time? What do you mean, Solo?"

"I sense your friends are in danger, Duo."

"What?" Duo turned to Heero. "Heero, we have to go back. Solo said Relena and the others are in danger."

"Solo? Who is he?" Heero looked around but saw nothing.

"The ghost. He's floating on your right now but you can't see it."

"Why?"

"I don't know. He said only I can see him. Anyway, let's go back, we're running out the time."

Heero nodded and grabbed Duo, putting him over his shoulder.

"Hey!" Duo protested.

"This is the fastest way. Hold on." Heero ran as fast as he could, bringing his precious bundle on his shoulder. He was still wondering why Duo kissed him but it had to be set aside. Now, there were more important things to do.

Behind him, Solo looked at them thoughtfully. "I'm counting on you..." The boy softly whispered to himself. "... Shinigami."

+

"Damn, we're surrounded!" Wufei cursed and stepped back, only to meet with Trowa's back.

"It seems we can't escape." Quatre looked around. They were surrounded by the hair monster, which had made a circle around them with his body.

"Where's the torch? Throw it to the monster!" Relena shouted. They had made some torches, following Heero's instruction.

Noin and Hilde who held the torches threw them to the monster.

"Hey, it worked!" Sally shouted as the monster stopped approaching them and tried to stop the fire from eating it.

But suddenly rain fell down, extinguishing the torches.

"Damn it." Wufei cursed again. "How can it rain??? I swear the sun was shining a minute ago."

"This rain isn't natural. I think that monster made it, just like it made the fog." Trowa spoke up.

"What should we do now?" Hilde watched worriedly as the monster narrowed the circle.

"Hope for a miracle?" Noin offered, also stepping back. They were forced to stand back to back with each other as the circle grew smaller.

"I better hope for Shinigami to order his Perfect Soldier to help us." Relena muttered

"Relena, if Perfect Soldier does help us, we'll probably end up as its food." Hilde winced.

"Onna, stop talking nonsense. We still have hope. Heero and Duo were still out there." Wufei snorted.

"Hey there they are!" Quatre shouted and pointed in a direction.

All of them looked where Quatre pointed and saw Heero approaching them, with Duo on his shoulder..

"Kuso, they were surrounded by the monster." Heero quickly put Duo down. "Duo, stay behind me."

"Huh?" Duo didn't have time to react and could only watch as Heero raised both of his hands. He was stunned as Heero unleashed two big fireballs to the monster. And what stunned him more was the fact that the rain couldn't extinguish the fireballs.

He had seen Heero use the fire magic the first time they met. But he never thought Heero's magic was this strong.

Heero, in the other hand, focused his eyes on the fireballs. As they hit the monster, the fire became bigger, burning the monster. If Duo wasn't standing behind him, the braided boy would've seen those Prussian blue orbs narrowed like cat eyes.

"Hey, look! The fire breaks the monster's circle." Sally shouted.

"What are you waiting, onna? Let's go out!" Wufei pulled Relena to the gap the fire made, pushing Sally out of the circle, followed by the others.

As the last person left the circle, Heero shouted, "Duo, now! Throw the cross!" Duo had told him about the cross along the journey to the church and Heero hoped the ghost really could handle the monster.

Duo reacted as soon as Heero shouted. He ran toward the monster and threw the cross. Once the cross touched the monster, it showered it in very bright golden lights.

As the rain stopped, Heero and the others stood stunned and heard a voice echoing around them.

"My brothers and sisters... wake up... open your eyes..."

The monster stopped moving.

"Please remember... this is not your place..."

Duo watched as many balls of light; which resembled children, emerged from the monster. They were the lost children's souls. And surprisingly , he realized Heero and the others could see them too.

"Remember about yourself... Don't be sad... You are not alone... "

The monster dissolved as one soul after another left and flew toward the golden boy.

"You all are great children." Solo opened his arms. "Let's start from the beginning again."

The souls gathered between his opened arms. Heero and the others could hear the children's crying. It was a cry of relief; like a child who finally found his way home. Solo smiled and embraced the souls. "Let's go back to where we belong... Together."

Then it was over. The light become so bright that Heero, Duo, and the others had to close their eyes. Once they opened their eyes, there was no sign of the monster. Duo looked up and saw the sun shining brightly on the beautiful blue sky.

"It's beautiful." Duo turned and saw Relena also looking at the sky. "I never appreciated the sky until today..." She murmured.

Duo smiled and looked at the sky again. He was surprised to see a necklace with a golden cross on it flying in front of him. He looked up and saw the golden eyed boy floating above him.

"Solo?"

"Finally I can meet with my brothers and sisters. Thank you very much Duo. I hope you will accept this as our token of appreciation." Solo smiled and put the necklace around Duo's neck then disappeared once more after saying his last words. "I'll send your horses to you. It's all I can do to help your journey."

Duo looked at the cross on his chest and smiled. "Thanks to you too, Solo."

"Heero!!!" As Relena shouted, Duo turned to the stoic boy just to see him lying on the ground on his side.

"Heero!" Duo quickly went to the boy and checked him. Heero was panting and his eyes were closed. He seemed to be in pain. "What happened to him?" Duo looked up to the others.

"I don't know. He suddenly collapsed, just like before." Trowa spoke up.

"Just like before? You mean this is the second time this happened?" Duo looked at Trowa, who nodded back.

"I'm fine..."

Duo looked at the speaker and scowled. "No, you aren't fine, Heero. We need to see a doctor."

Heero wanted to refuse but he felt every part of his body throbbing in pain. He had over used his power again. That was the biggest fireballs he ever made, not counting the windstorm in the arena, and the wind he used to blow up the hair monster. Heero never thought he'd continuously use his power like this. It wore him out, but he knew he hadn't yet unleashed the strongest power within him...

"Hold on, Heero." He could hear Duo's voice and felt someone lift him up.

Duo ordered the others to find their horses and then looked down at the boy in his arms worriedly. Heero seemed to be very exhausted. The magic might have worn him out.

"Duo, I found our horses." Wufei shouted at him from behind the ruined church.

"I'll be right there, Wufei." Duo shouted.

As he arrived behind the church, Duo noticed the others also had gathered there. Quatre was tying Heero's horse to his horse, knowing Heero would not be able to ride the horse. Duo gave Heero to Trowa and then mounted his horse. "Give him to me."

Heero felt he was hoisted up and was leant against something warm. Then he felt a pair of arms around him, protecting him. As the warmth enveloped him, Heero felt the throbbing slowly subside. As the time passed, his breathing had become steady again. He looked up and saw a pair of violet eyes looking at him with concern.

"Feeling better?" Duo asked him.

Heero nodded and then looked around. Wufei, Sally, and Noin were riding in front of them, Relena on their right and Hilde on their left. Behind were Trowa and Quatre.

"Are you okay, Heero?" Relena approached them.

Heero nodded again as he studied the road. There were no trees. So they weren't in the forest anymore.

"It's okay, we're safe now." Relena smiled.

Just as Relena finished her sentence, a loud shriek was heard from above them. They quickly looked up and saw a giant bird approaching them. And before they had a chance to move, the bird had seized Duo, Heero, and the horse in its talon.
"Heero!". "Duo!" Relena and Hilde shouted simultaneously and watched the bird fly away.

"Damnit!! That bird'll have them for its lunch.." Wufei cursed.

"We have to help them" Hilde spoke up

"How?" Sally asked.
Noin spoke up. "A bird usually brings its prey to its nest... I think this one might too. So if we can find its nest, we can save them."

"And how can we find the nest?" Wufei asked to the blank faces around him.

+

[1] I am not gonna tell what's the meaning againnnnnnnn , LOL. You have to find it by your own. *evil chackles*

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