(D2 Entry) Butterflies of the Night, ch. 9

[Fallen Angel]

Title: Butterflies of the Night
Author: Fallen Angel fallen_angel_2012@hotmail.com
Rating: PG-13 for now, but LEMON in ch. 13
Categories: Alternate Universe, series, romance
Disclaimer: i do not own Gundam Wing

Chapter 9: Soldiers

{


“I just don’t understand women sometimes.”

Trowa raised an eyebrow. That wasn’t the sort of question Quatre was prone to asking.

“Women in general, or one in particular?”

Quatre sighed. “Dorothy Catalonia.”

“Correct me if I’m wrong, but wasn’t a marriage being arranged between you and Mariemaia Kushrenada?”

“It was…it is. But, I’m not sure. I’ve met Mariemaia and she’s a sweet girl but Dorothy is, well, Dorothy. She makes me angry and happy and scared and nervous all at once. I’m not saying that’s the basis for a perfect match but if I marry Mariemaia, will I spend the rest of my life wondering if I could have made it work?”

“Possibly,” answered Trowa, sipping at his sake. “The easiest way to work this out though, is to find out how Dorothy feels about you.”

“That’s the thing. She’s not talking to me at the moment.”

“And why is that?” asked Trowa.

“Well, when I broke the news about Mariemaia she got a little mad and…”

“Enough said. She’s jealous.”

Quatre slammed his glass of sake down, spilling a few drops over the rim. He ignored them though. “That’s just it! If she feels that way, why didn’t she tell me when I asked? If I can confess how I feel, why can’t she?”

“Dorothy isn’t like other women, Quatre…”

“Understatement of the year.”

“She has a past,” said Trowa, and frowned to emphasise this was a serious point he was making. “And there are things…things that maybe she hasn’t told you.”

Quatre’s eyes widened and Trowa sighed. “No, I suppose she hasn’t. You see, I’ve known Dorothy for longer than you have. Not intimately, but I remember when she first became a geisha. She had a danna almost straightaway.”

“I knew she’d had one at one stage. Lots of geisha do.”

“But not every geisha has a danna like this. I’d seen him at parties and the like and Quatre…it was like she was dead inside when she was around him. When you’re an actor, you get a lot better at reading people’s body language and though I couldn’t be sure, I was afraid for her.”

Quatre’s eyes widened even further and he turned to his friend. “Trowa, what are you trying to say?”

The taller man stared off into space for a while, searching for the memory. “Well, this one time for instance; we were at a party and it was getting late, very late. Most of the people had gone home but Dorothy’s danna…he was young, you see. Like you, I suppose. But not. He wanted to stay at the party and when Dorothy politely suggested they leave, his eyes narrowed and he placed his hand on the back of her neck. To anyone else it might have looked like a caress but from where I sat, I could see he was digging his fingers in. Hard. She looked like she was about to cry.”

“Dear gods…”

“I know. But there was nothing I could do. Quatre, if you’d known her back then you wouldn’t even have recognised her. She was quiet, obedient. But the funny thing was, when her danna wasn’t there, she was the Dorothy we know now: witty and lively. I think she tried to be like that at other parties so she would earn more money. That’s probably why she managed to free herself from her okiya at such a young age. Sometimes I worry that what I saw at parties was only the tip of the iceberg when it came to his cruelty towards her. I suppose some men need to hurt women in order to make themselves feel strong…Quatre? What is it?”

At first, his friend seemed lost in his thoughts. But when Trowa looked more closely, he could see the other man’s shoulders were shaking with barely contained anger. It was a frightening sight.

“What happened to him?”

“What?”

“What happened to her danna?” asked Quatre, his voice low and tinged with hate.

Trowa shrugged. “I’m not sure exactly. He disappeared, I’d heard. It wouldn’t be the first time a young man has gotten sick of shouldering responsibility and run away with a maid or something. Why?”

Quatre was grasping the sake glass very tightly. “No reason. It doesn’t matter now.”

“Quatre, I hope you’re not thinking what I think you’re…hey, do you smell something?”

The other man raised his head. “Actually, I do. Is that…I think that’s smoke!”

Both men turned around and could make out the glow of fire over the houses. “We should go help,” Quatre said, throwing some yen on the table to pay for their meal. They began to run in the direction of the fire and the sounds of people’s cries, but it was taking too long.

“I know a shortcut,” Trowa said and was about to lead Quatre through one of the small alleyways when a figure emerged from it. And moving fast. Suspiciously so.

With a silent nod to each other, both men were in pursuit. The figure ahead of them moved fast, but Trowa and Quatre had the home advantage. As Quatre stayed on his tail, Trowa swerved off, probably to cut through one of the alleys and circle around.

Which was a good thing, Quatre thought as he ran. Whoever they were chasing was fast, and crafty. But he also didn’t seem to realise he was being followed and as they reached the end of the street and the figure paused to catch his breath, Quatre made his move.

“Gotcha,” he said, throwing himself at the figure.

“What you have,” said the figure suddenly, “is air.” With that, he stepped sideways and Quatre landed on the road with a thud. When he turned around, though, the figure was fighting with Trowa now. As they fought, Quatre could see that they’d underestimated their adversary. He was young, Quatre could tell now, and Chinese by his clothes.

But as the two men fought, Quatre could see that this man was more than that. Trowa was one of the best martial artists Quatre knew, fighting with skill and grace, but this stranger made him look like an amateur.

Trowa knew he still had an advantage, though. As they traded kicks and blows, Trowa was forcing the stranger to turn his back to Quatre. And Quatre, for his part, wasn’t missing the signal. When he judged the time was right, he flung himself at the stranger’s back and toppled him to the ground. With Trowa’s help, they soon had him pinned.

“Get off me,” said the man, in accented Japanese.

“After all the trouble we went to to get you pinned,” said Trowa, panting. “I don’t think so.”

“I’m not what you think I am.”

“There’s one way to find out,” said Trowa, as he used his obi to tie the other man’s hands. “I think it’s time we had a little talk.”


{ { {


“It’s only a very minor sprain,” said Sally, examining Relena’s ankle. Her sadness at Wufei’s departure was quickly overridden by the need to get Relena someplace to rest and finding where Hilde had gotten to.

So far, she’d accomplished the first task. The maids’ quarters at the back of the house were untouched by the fire and while the maids scoured the house for whatever could be salvaged or went to buy food, Sally and Noin were there, watching Relena sleep. Heero was there too. He knew he had to leave before she woke up, but he couldn’t leave her side until he was sure she’d be okay. Sally and Noin had told him that she would be fine and they would contact him if anything changed. But he’d assured them he’d much rather stay for now.

As for Hilde, Sally could only guess. She blamed herself for being so careless. Many mornings she’d seen Hilde coming into the house early, but assumed that she’d only gone out for a walk or to watch the sunrise. She knew now she should have said something but she’d never thought Hilde had it in her to lie about where she’d been at night, or keep the secret for so long. That was something she’d have to investigate when the young girl got back…

“This should be healed within a few days,” said Sally, bandaging Relena’s ankle. “Hopefully, it won’t be too painful by the time she…”

She was cut off by the sound of a light rapping at the door. Noin stood up. “I’ll get it.”

Noin came back a few minutes later, followed by a very docile and sad looking Hilde. There was an awkward silence in the room until Sally stood up.

“Will you excuse us, Mr Yuy?” asked Sally in a flat tone. Heero nodded and then she, Hilde and Noin were gone. They mustn’t have gone far, though, because Heero could hear their voices from the next room.

Well, he could hear Sally and Noin’s voices. They rose from low and hushed to high pitched and quite passionate. He tried not to listen, but it was very hard. Especially when Hilde seemed to get tired of being lectured and lifted her voice in self-defence.

Then, with a bang, the door to the next room opened and Hilde came storming out, tears streaming down her face. She fled past the room Relena and Heero were in and out the front door.

“Shall I go after her?” Noin asked of Sally, the two women appearing in the hallway outside.

“No,” answered Sally. “Give her time to think on what we said. When she’s done, she’ll be back.”


{ { {


“So let me get this straight,” said Quatre, crouching on his haunches opposite the Chinese man in Trowa and Catherine’s main sitting room. “You want us to let you go, unharmed, after you’ve told us absolutely nothing about who you are or what you’re doing here.”

Their ‘guest’ scowled, pulling at the ties that held him bound to the wooden support in the centre of the room.

“Are you sure those will hold?” asked Quatre, turning to Trowa.

Trowa nodded from where he stood, arms crossed, leaning up against the wall. He looked as bad as Quatre felt. It had been hours - the sun was rising now - and the man wasn’t saying anything. But they’d been hesitant to hand him over to the authorities straight away when there was something suspicious about the whole situation, too many unanswered questions. For example, if the man was a soldier, why wasn’t he in uniform? If he were an assassin, hiding in the country, why did he seem so well cared for? Why was he educated enough to speak Japanese?

“Can you at least give us a name?” Quatre said. “As a way of building up some trust? My name is Quatre Raberba Winner and this is Trowa Barton.”

The Chinese man remained silent.

“If we wanted to hurt you or turn you in,” said Trowa, “we’d have done it by now. It’s only out of the kindness of our hearts that we’re giving you this chance to explain yourself to people who’ll listen to you. You’re being a fool by passing up this opportunity.”

The other man seemed to consider this for a while before saying, “My name is Chang Wufei.”

Quatre breathed a silent sigh of relief. “Good. Now, Wufei, what are you doing here?”

“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”

“Try us.”

“I’m here to protect someone.”

Trowa raised his eyebrows in surprise. “Protect? Not assassinate?”

“No,” said Wufei. Then he smiled confidently. “If I’d been sent to kill someone, they’d be dead by now and I’d be out of this country.”

“Alright then,” said Trowa, stepping forward. “If that’s the case, then who have you been sent to protect, and by whom?”

“Do you think me a fool? I can’t trust you with that kind of information. You may be in league with those who would try to kill the man I’m trying to protect.”

“So you’re not an assassin,” said Quatre. “I suppose I can believe that. But are you an arsonist? Why were you running away from the direction of that fire?”

“I wasn’t running from the fire,” said Wufei. He paused, then added sadly, “I was running to protect someone who’d tried to protect me. That fire was lit, I’m sure, in an attempt to kill me. To stop me from completing my mission.”

“This enemy of yours,” said Trowa. “Does he have a name?”

Wufei laughed derisively. “Again, you wouldn’t believe me if I told you. He is a rich and powerful man in this country. Above suspicion.”

“No one’s above suspicion. Especially the rich and powerful.”

At this Quatre stood up and went outside. He came back a few seconds later and called Trowa over to the door.

“Trowa, I just spoke to Mrs. Noventa, across the road,” he whispered. “She said the fire was at the Po house.”

“Po? As in Sally Po? So she was the one protecting him.”

“She is Chinese…”

“But Sally’s no traitor. And she’s no fool either. If she felt she could trust this guy Wufei, then maybe we can too.”

“I think so,” agreed Quatre. “I can’t help feeling like he’s telling us the truth.”

“Great, we can trust him. How do we convince him he can trust us?”

“Maybe we don’t have to,” said Quatre, thinking. “Put the pieces of the puzzle together, Trowa. He’s here to protect someone, someone who the Chinese want alive. Now who do we know is in Kyoto at the moment who fits that description?”

Trowa’s face lit up. “Heero Yuy! The peace treaty. So if he’s the target, who’s this enemy?”

“He said rich and powerful. That could be anyone. Even me. How are we meant to work that out?”

“We might not be able to,” said Trowa, smiling. “But I know someone who can.”


{ { {


“Hilde? Babe, what are you…?”

Duo’s cheerful greeting faded the moment he saw Hilde’s face. She’d been crying, badly. Her hair was dishevelled and she was still in the kimono he’d last seen her in. The kimono he’d seen her in just before dawn.

“Oh, no,” Duo murmured, more to himself than anyone else. He’d known for some time that this day would come, the day when he and Hilde’s secret came to light. He just hadn’t known it would be so soon. “Come inside.”

He led her into his tiny apartment and she knelt in his excuse for a lounge room, her eyes downcast.

“I’ll just get you some tea, okay?” He moved towards the kitchen but she stopped him by grabbing his sleeve.

“Hilde?”

She raised her face, eyes still glistening with tears. “They found out, Duo. There was a fire and they realised I wasn’t at home last night.”

“A fire? Hilde, is everyone all right?”

She nodded mutely. “Relena sprained her ankle, but they say she’ll be okay. But Duo, I might never see her again. They told me they would forgive me but I had to choose, between you and them.”

“Hilde, babe, you don’t need to tell me this right now.”

“Yes I do,” she whispered and Duo sighed. How could he refuse her anything, when she was sitting before him, shivering and holding back tears? She looked so helpless, so unlike the Hilde he knew and loved. He knelt before her. “C’mere.”

She fell into his arms like a drowning woman would fall upon dry land and began crying. Not soft little tears, but painful sobs that made Duo’s heart constrict in pity. This was his fault. He should’ve known better. He should’ve known she’d only get hurt.

“They tried to make me choose,” she sobbed into his chest. “I love my sisters and I respect Sally-san, but I couldn’t choose. I just couldn’t. I love you, Duo. More than anything else in this world…more than being with my family…I love you.”

“What?” Duo raised her face to his. He had to see it in her eyes. No one had ever loved him before. Well, he suspected Hilde did, even if she never put it into words.

Until now.

“I said I love you,” said Hilde, smiling through her tears. “I choose you. I can’t live without you Duo, and I want to be with you. If you’ll have me.”

“If I’ll have you? How can you ask me that?” He planted a quick kiss on her lips before standing. “Wait right here, I’ve got something to give you.”

He darted into his bedroom and began rummaging under his futon. “C’mon. Where are you…aha!”

From under the thin white mattress he pulled a tiny velvet blue box. Inside, nestled on a pillow of white, was a shimmering, solitaire diamond ring. It had cost a large part of his most recent pay from Heero, but when he saw it, he knew he had to buy it.

Duo didn’t know what the tradition was here in Japan, but he’d always been a sucker for the kind of proposal the old romance movies back home pictured. He knew Hilde would be thrilled too, once she understood what he was asking.

“What have you got there?” asked Hilde, her eyes lighting up a little as he came back into the room.

“It’s for you,” he said, kneeling before her. “Hilde, I know I don’t have that much to offer you. Nothing except my love and loyalty, really. But if you’ll be happy with just that, then will you do me the honour of marrying me?”

Here he opened the box and watched Hilde’s eyes widen as she took in what he was saying and the gift he was giving her. “Your wife…you want me to be your wife?”

“I’m sorry, you’re right. It was stupid of me to ask.”

“No, that’s not it at all. I’m just…oh, Duo, of course I’ll marry you!”

“You will? Hilde, that’s fantastic. You’ve made me the happiest man in the world.”

“Oh, Duo,” said Hilde, smiling as he slid the ring onto her finger. It was a perfect fit. “I love you.”

Their eyes met and Duo found it hard to breathe as he realised he was looking into the eyes of the woman he would marry, and who might one day bear his children.

“I love you too, Hilde.”

They kissed then. Not a playful kiss like they’d shared earlier that day, but a passionate one, an unspoken affirmation of their feelings. Together, they began to fall back onto the floor when…

Knock, knock.

Duo growled. “Dammit. No one’s home!”

Hilde giggled as the knocking continued.

“Duo Maxwell, are you in there? It’s important that we talk with you.”

“Fine,” he called out, disentangling himself from Hilde. “Just give me a minute.”

When Duo was sure all his clothing was in the right place and after Hilde had gone to hide in the bedroom - it simply wasn’t proper for her to be there, engaged or not - Duo answered the door.

There stood a blonde man with expensive clothing, a taller, dark haired man and a shorter one with narrowed eyes.

“What is it?”

“Duo?”

“Yes? Hey, I know you,” he said, turning to Quatre. “I wrote an article on you once…Quatre Winner, isn’t it?”

“It is. Can we come in?”

“Sure,” said Duo, letting them past. “What is this all about, though? And who are your friends?”

“This is Trowa Barton,” said Quatre, “ and this is Chang Wufei. I’ll get right to the point: we need your help.”

Duo frowned. “My help? What, you need an article written or some translating done?”

“No,” said Trowa, seeing that Duo wasn’t going to admit to anything without some prodding. “We need help concerning Heero Yuy.”

Duo laughed. “As in General Heero Yuy? Fellahs, I don’t even know the guy.”

“Then why did you meet him for lunch last week? Why did you accept an envelope - probably full of money - from him?”

Duo’s joking demeanour was gone and his tone became serious. “I can see I’ve been careless. I hadn’t realised we’d been spotted.”

“Don’t blame yourself,” said Trowa with a wave of his hand. “I’m a good reader of body language. You two were screaming secretive. And I’m probably the only person of some notoriety who would frequent the kinds of places you do. So what are you to him? A spy, I suppose.”

“No point lying now. I am. A guy like Heero needs eyes in the back of his head and I’m them. So you got that out of me: now what? I won’t tell you anything more than that.”

“Duo, we need more than that,” said Quatre. “What we know involves an assassination conspiracy concerning Heero Yuy. You may be the only one who can help us piece together who’s involved and why they would want to sabotage the peace treaty.”

“So what do you know?”

“Actually,” said Trowa, “it’s not what we know.” He turned to Wufei. “Tell him.”

Wufei looked Duo up and down and snorted. “Humph. No way. You expect me to divulge my mission to this loudmouth, crazy American?”

Duo grinned. “Hey, this guy’s good. It takes most people a few hours to make that kind of assessment.”

“Wufei, please. You won’t get anywhere on your own,” persisted Quatre. “He may not look it, but Duo is our connection to Yuy and the closest thing we have to help at the moment.”

“Very well,” said Wufei. “But I feel nervous enough about telling this man…I don’t want the woman to hear either.”

“Woman, what woman?” asked Quatre in bewilderment. But Duo knew what he was talking about and said to Wufei, seriously this time, “You are good. Hey, Hilde, you can come out now.”

Hilde emerged from the bedroom, her eyes noticeably less red from crying. “I’ll leave,” she said but Duo stopped her. “No. Whatever Wufei can say to me, he can say to my fianc?e.”

Trowa and Quatre shrugged and Wufei sighed. “Fine. You already know my name is Chang Wufei. What you don’t know is that I’m the nephew of the Emperor and his personal bodyguard.” He ignored the gasps of surprise at this and went on. “China is tired of fighting this war and we had thought Japan was too, until our spies discovered that there were a few who would rather the peace treaty did not come to pass. Even with the peace treaty eminent, though, the Emperor couldn’t send troops into your country to protect Heero Yuy, so he sent me.

“When I arrived, I was able to meet up with contacts who took me in and gave me information on Heero Yuy and those who were against him. I noticed one man in particular seemed supportive but wasn’t acting so: his troops remained stationed overseas, he continued to ration his crops…”

“Trieze Kushrenada,” said Duo grimly. “I came to the same conclusion, but didn’t have enough to hold against him. He’s a powerful man.”

Wufei nodded. “I realised that too.”

“Trieze Kushrenada? Are you sure?” asked Quatre. “I can’t believe it…he’s always been so noble.”

“I said he was above suspicion. In any case, I knew I could never accuse Trieze and be believed. So I aimed to arrive in Kyoto when Yuy did and warn him. But time was running out. I knew Trieze would make his move soon but I didn’t know what. On top of that, when I reached Kyoto, my contact had passed away from a heart condition and I was on my own, already suffering from a sickness I’d picked up on my travels. Luckily someone found me and nursed me back to health.”

“That was Sally Po, right?” interjected Quatre. “We figured that out when we realised where the fire was.”

Hilde’s eyes widened. “You were the big secret Sally was keeping? I knew something was going on…and to think she got so angry at me for keeping secrets.”

“She had good reason to keep me a secret,” said Wufei firmly and with some regret. “Someone must have found out I was hiding there and lit that fire to flush me out. It’s not hard to believe that Trieze has spies all throughout this city. Knowing which one will make an attempt on Yuy’s life is anyone’s guess.

“There’s more,” said Quatre quietly. He was shifting from foot to foot and looking very uncomfortable. “He’ll be in the city soon too.”

“What? Why?”

“It’s my fault. I didn’t realise what he really was. And I’m engaged to his daughter. I invited him and his family here to watch the Kamogawa dances with me next week.”

“This is not good,” said Duo.

“And General Yuy will most likely be at the dances too,” offered Hilde. “I’m sure Relena would have invited him to come watch her dance. She’s got a starring role.”

Trowa’s eyes lit up. “This may be a good thing, though. Now we know who is doing what, we can form a plan.”

“What kind of plan?” asked Duo. “A make-sure-Heero-doesn’t-die plan?”

“Well, yes, but there’s more to it than that. Wufei, you said you couldn’t accuse Trieze. But what if we brought his plan out into the open? What if we forced him to attempt to murder Heero, right out in public? There could be no doubt then.”

Quatre’s eyes lit up too. “Yes, I can see where you’re going Trowa. You have an idea?”

“Sort of. I’m working on it. There’s just one small problem.”

“What’s that?”

“We need to find out which one of Trieze’s spies has been given the job of murdering Heero Yuy. And we need to make sure they fail.”


{ { {


She truly was beautiful.

Heero had know this the moment he’d met her. Any man with two eyes in his head would have known it. She was like a work of art, her eyes the clearest blue, her hair like spun gold. He felt sorry for the man who created her kimonos: how depressing it must have been to know that even with the finest silks and dyes, he never could have created anything that could compare with it’s wearer.

Heero had known this, but now he was sure of it. Now that she was lying there in only the plain robe she slept in and without the pale makeup geisha always wore. These things only made it even more obvious that without the trimmings and adornments, she was already perfection.

Almost, anyway, Heero thought, reaching out to tuck a stray strand of hair behind her ear. He meant for it to be a momentary caress, but the temptation to rest his hand against her cheek - to see if her skin were as soft as it looked, to remember the warmth of her kiss - was too strong.

The voices of Sally and Noin drifted in from the next room and Heero looked up, startled. Then he relaxed, knowing they would be there for a while longer. They were discussing Hilde still and Heero shook his head in regret and pity. He felt sorry for Relena’s sister, even if he’d never met her. Maybe people like himself and Duo weren’t allowed to love without complications. It seemed cruel but appropriate of the Gods to make it that way: nothing else in their life was easy, why should love be?

“Heero…” Relena whispered, stirring. Heero pulled his hand away quickly, afraid she knew he was there. But after a moment he realised she was only dreaming.

She dreams of me…

The concept of meaning that much to a person startled Heero. And did she, in turn, mean that much to him? he wondered then realised it was a stupid question. He’d run into a burning building for her, without a second thought. Of course she did.

And then he said the words he could only ever say when she didn’t hear him, the words he should have said last night at dinner.

“I care for you, Relena,” he said, “but it’s more than that. I love you.” He stood up then and, supporting his weight on his hands either side of her, bent down and placed a kiss on her still lips. For a second, he thought she may have kissed him back and then reminded himself she was asleep.

“And because I love you,” he went on, whispering against her lips, “I can’t stay. If I become your danna, I’ll never be sure if you love me and I don’t think I can handle that. And I don’t want you to have to pretend. But you’ll be free soon. This war will be over and your brother will return and he’ll free you. In time, you’ll forget me.”

He stood up and brushed his hand across her cheek. Yes, she would forget. But he never would. Even if he were lucky - or unlucky - enough to live until he were an old man, he would never forget the geisha who had stolen his heart. And at the same time, shown him he had one.

With these thoughts making his steps heavy and slow, he left the room and left Relena.

When she was sure he was gone, she opened her eyes and let the tears fall out, running across her face and onto the pillow beneath her. “No, Heero, you’re wrong,” she whispered to the air around her. “Wasurenai.”

I won’t forget…


Translations:

Wasurenai: I won’t forget


AN: Long, ne? Sorry ‘bout that. I was on a roll. Annoying how that always happens at 2:30 am when it’s freezing cold and my fingers are numb. Oh, and sorry too about that last bit - even I’m saddened and I wrote it!