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Kyuuketsuki Duo
Sanguis Draconis
Part III
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	Truth be told, having humans around was inconvenient.  They 
needed to do things like sleep and eat.  They had to pack things and 
notify people.  They needed to meet at places and discuss amongst 
themselves.

	But as it was, he needed them, and he needed to work with them, 
so that was why he was back ringing the familiar doorbell of the Winner 
residence the next day.  It quickly became clear the previous night that 
Wufei would be unhelpful until he had worked his way through the shock 
of his patron's demonhood, so they had adjourned to the next day.  The 
humans may have spent the night sleeping on their revelations, but Duo 
had been busy burning some midnight oil, more familiar to him than the 
light of day, and now he came today to share with the rest of them.

	He was struck by a certain sense of déjà vu when Quatre opened 
the door for him, greeted him sunnily, and led him to the backyard, and 
for a brief moment, he actually Saw it happening several times over, 
echoes of the past caught in the ether.  There was something about the 
puddle of energy this house was sitting on that made it susceptible to 
impressions.

	They were all already gathered, saving him the trouble of having 
to wait for them.  There was something to be said for arriving 
fashionably late, after all.  Then again, they had all probably gathered 
for an early lunch or something, to which, of course, he need not have 
been invited.

	Duo surveyed his audience a little more critically than he had 
the other night, looking beyond their irrelevant physical exteriors and 
into their essences.  Trowa sat calmly beside Quatre, looking as 
inscrutable as always.  His aura remained that bizarre mixture of 
sharply focused on the inside and hazily indistinct on the outside.  
That one would almost always have the advantage of surprise.

	Meiran's spirit was as bright as ever.  It was said she had 
passed her years with research into the Eastern lore and traditions.  
The confidence she held in that knowledge shined through, yet it was 
undercut by the thread that bound her to Wufei, colored by faith and 
woven with concern.  She had cause for concern now, as Wufei's own 
colors had been badly shaken, but they held solidly enough for the time 
being.  If he was not too stubborn about it, then he would have the time 
he needed to gather himself.

	Satisfied, Duo began without further preamble.  "It will be 
difficult to gain access to the land of the dragons."

	As usual, Quatre was the first to question.  "Because of the 
land, or because of the dragons?"

	"Both."  He directed his following statements to all of them, 
but mostly to Wufei.  Perhaps he would gain some solace from the 
information.  "The dragons have always held themselves somewhat aloof 
from the rest of demonkind.  They consider themselves to be either above 
or outside the demon power squabbles.  I wouldn't be able to tell you 
which caused what, if any, but their land is also rather isolated from 
the rest of the realm."

	"How does the demon plane exist?" Meiran questioned.  "I mean, 
is it a world like ours, in a physical sense, or...?"

	Duo took a moment to form an opinion.  The demon realm just was, 
as it had always been.  He simply accepted its being.  "It exists 
physically," he decided.  "But I would strongly advise against trying to 
apply too many laws of physics to the place.  One can walk from one 
place to the next, but it can be like walking through a maze of Escher 
at times.  When a demon owns the land, his will shapes the landscape.  
Some demons are more reasonable than others.  And we can get strange 
things when two wills collide.  A hand-drawn map of the place would be 
quite useless."

	"So, when you say 'difficult', you mean that it is far away, or 
that there will be obstacles between here and there?"

	"Well, the first challenge will be to actually figure out where 
the place is."

	All the eyes present blinked at him.  "They're *that* aloof, 
eh?" Quatre asked dryly.

	Duo shrugged.  It wasn't his fault the dragons were elitists.  
"I asked a friend or two what they knew.  Unfortunately, it wasn't much.  
The dragons aren't as mighty today as they once were.  It... doesn't 
matter to most people where the dragons hide themselves these days."  He 
easily ignored the little daggers Wufei shot at him with his eyes.  It 
wasn't his fault that the dragons' power had waned, either.

	"Unfortunately," he continued, "that means I have had to resort 
to asking another source, one that likes to keep track of these things.  
Someone is helping me to track down my source now.  I expect to be 
called upon sometime today."

	"Alright," Quatre accepted.  There wasn't much they could do to 
help the guardian in his chore, so he moved along.  "So, say you find 
out where the dragons are.  What then?"

	"Then we make our way over there and see if they want to let us 
in or not.  They may or may not care."

	"What will we have to do with the sword in order to wake 
Shenlong?"

	"I'm sure we'll figure it out when we get there."

	Wufei raised a thin eyebrow and participated in the discussion 
for the first time.  "You don't know much, do you?"

	"I know more than you do," he retorted sweetly.  He was about to 
add more to that statement when he cocked his head to one side, 
listening to something only he could hear.  "Would you mind if we had 
some guests?" he asked their host.

	"Your source?"  A nod.  "Then no, of course not.  ...As long as 
it's no one the neighbors will notice," he appended, thinking over how 
disruptive and difficult to explain some demons could be.

	Duo spared him a tiny quirk of his lips before sending off a 
response on the ether.  A few moments later, a pair of slender hands 
materialized on his shoulders.  As they slid their way languidly down 
his chest, two bare arms made themselves known, followed shortly by the 
rest of a womanly form to complete the familiar embrace.  "Miss me?" a 
sultry voice purred into his ear.

	"Didn't think you'd be back so soon, Hil," he answered evenly, 
apparently unconcerned by the female draped all over him.  "Did you find 
her?"

	"Wasn't so hard, given I knew where to look."  She paused, 
feeling something inside of Duo twitch unhappily at the reminder of the 
demon's location.  "I'm sorry, baby," she murmured in soft apology, 
adding a gentle squeeze of love before deliberately turning her 
attention to the humans in their presence.  "So, introduce me to your 
friends, Duo."

	They were each studying her with varying degrees of curiosity 
and suspicion, and she uncurled partially from Duo to give them a proper 
view of herself, though she didn't stray far from his contact.  After 
all, it wasn't the cute, pixie face, or the short, stylish hair, or the 
dark, skin-tight suit that made a succubus -- a good part of it was the 
man.

	"Quatre, Trowa, Wufei, Meiran," he indicated each of them in 
turn.  "Meet Hilde."

	"She's your source?" Wufei asked skeptically.

	"She's an old friend," he corrected as Hilde coolly assessed the 
Chinese man's potential.  She didn't find much to work with.  "And I 
trust her."

	"How long have you known each other?" Quatre asked politely, 
ignoring the way Wufei snorted softly to himself and turned away.

	"Oh, we go way back," Hilde answered silkily, turning the force 
of her charm on the blonde instead.  The brunette beside him she passed 
over rather quickly.  Whatever it was with him, it was clear that she 
would derive nothing from that one.  She smiled when the blonde nearly 
jumped in his seat from the unexpected surge of warmth she sent him.  
"We're like family."

	"In a third cousin, twice removed sort of way," Duo clarified.  
"I've never understood how you humans reckon such things."

	"Oh, er, that's nice," the spiritualist mumbled in response, a 
finger creeping up to tug at his collar.  "I, uh, take it you're a 
succubus?"

	"Tone it down, Hil," Duo chastised her quietly.  With a pout, 
she complied, and Quatre breathed a sigh of relief.  "So you found her.  
Will she be gracing us with her presence any time soon?"

	"Very soon, I imagine," she answered breezily.  "She said she'd 
be by shortly.  She probably could have come right away, but you know 
her.  She has an image to maintain."

	"Just how many demonesses do you know?" Wufei asked a bit 
testily.  He was not fond of demons, and female demons in particular.  
Especially ones that oozed sensuality.  They were nothing but trouble.

	"I know more than you do," he simply cooed again as a response, 
and once more was saved from further reply by the snowflakes that fell 
quite unexpectedly into their midst.  Having silently announced the 
approach of their mistress, they fell to the grass, and before they had 
time to melt, their mistress arrived in a small, wintry flurry.

	"Dorothy," the guardian greeted civilly.  He thought it rather 
unusual that she would choose to answer his call in the presence of so 
many humans.  Then again, they were each powerful individuals.

	"Duo," she answered in kind, sweeping a dismissing gaze over the 
rest of the assemblage, humans and succubus alike.  The humans she was 
already passingly familiar with.  Their association with the guardian 
had brought them to her attention long ago.  The succubus she had little 
use for.  They were never interested much in power and politics.  
"Whatever can I do for you, darling?"

	"You like keeping track of the power players, don't you?"  He 
had fallen back into that deceptively urbane tone of voice he typically 
took with Dorothy when they played their little word games.  At her 
dignified nod, he continued.  "I was wondering if perhaps you had any 
information on the current status and whereabouts of the dragon clan?"

	Her light laughter filled the air between them like a sprinkle 
of sparkling crystals.  "The dragons have never been power players, 
Epyon aside, of course.  That was what drove him out.  But I suppose I 
still know something of them, for completion's sake, if nothing else.  
They will not be able to help you against the Black Dragon, though."

	"Oh?"

	"He's already torn through their ranks, on his way to the top."

	"What?" Wufei cut in sharply.  Meiran made as if to lay a 
restraining hand upon his elbow, but she aborted the reflex.

	She barely spared him a flicker of her eyes.  "When he first 
returned to the East, he paused only shortly to lick his wounds before 
re-appearing in dragon society.  It quickly became clear to him, 
however, that they were still the close-minded creatures that they have 
always been.  Since they still refused to join the Great Game, he 
decided to bring the Game to them instead.  He subjugated them all 
before moving on to greater demon society, using them as an initial 
power base.  He has surpassed needing them, but he is far too great a 
general to leave an enemy at his back.  And I suppose a little vengeance 
might be a part of it as well.  He still owns them quite thoroughly."

	"Why, that's too bad," the guardian drawled lazily in response.

	Wufei's eyebrow twitched.  "Too bad?" he repeated flatly.  Yes, 
he may have discovered that the dragons were generally considered to be 
nothing more than a subspecies of demon, but they were still dragons, 
dammit, and Epyon was still the Bad Guy.  That hadn't changed.  "We need 
to free them."

	"Hmm, a revolt?" Duo pondered idly aloud.  Something inside of 
him chortled with dark glee at the thought of creating chaos.  He 
slapped it down and attempted to apply reason to his desire, but no 
matter the rationalizations he came up with, there still lurked in him 
that voice that told him to do it simply because.  "That might be 
interesting.  We'll need to go there, anyway."

	"What business do you have there?" the snow demon inquired.

	"We shall bring with us a dragon in need of reviving," he 
announced grandly.  "One that may have the power to assist us in 
overthrowing his arch-nemesis."

	She laughed again, sending a shiver down several spines.  "My, 
you are quite the optimistic one, aren't you, Guardian?"

	He shrugged nonchalantly.  "We shall see, shan't we?  What can 
you tell us of the clan's location?"

	"It is rather out of the way, through this demon's territory and 
that, over these and under those."  With her quite unhelpful answer, she 
was rather clearly waiting for the guardian to explicitly solicit her 
aid.  She rarely volunteered anything of her own accord unless it was to 
her benefit.

	"Could we trouble you to show us the way?" Duo asked obligingly.  
He wondered if this would go on his tab or not.  After all, it was she 
that had first approached them with her request to be let in on the 
festivities.

	"I would be delighted, Guardian."  She bowed mockingly.

	"Why would you help us, demon?" Wufei finally spoke up again.  
When he had first heard that Epyon was active again, he had planned on 
going after him alone, and in his own way.  He had had absolutely no 
intentions of allying himself with the Shinma guardian, let alone a 
handful of demons of unknown trustworthiness.  It was not enough for him 
that Duo would vouch for them.

	Dorothy smirked mysteriously at the human.  "I enjoy helping out 
Duo on occasion."

	Duo made a soft, contemptuous sound.  "And you've always had a 
peculiar fascination with the underdog.  You think we have a snowball's 
chance in hell, don't you?"

	"A snowball has a very good chance in hell, actually, especially 
when it's one of mine."

	With a little smile, Duo tilted his head gracefully in 
concession.  "Point taken."

	"If you'll excuse me," she said, gathering her pristinely white 
robe around her.  "I need to go clear my calendar."  Duo drew breath to 
say something, but hesitated, then changed his mind.  Dorothy caught the 
moment anyway.  She studied him for a second, before finally saying, "He 
sends his regards."

	The expression on Duo's face was the most human any of them had 
seen all afternoon, and even so, it was neither open nor vulnerable.  He 
nodded wordlessly for a moment, before saying what he needed to say.  It 
came out in a soft murmur, targeted mainly at Dorothy's ears alone.  "I 
wish he were here.  Or I were there.  Or actually, that neither of us 
had to be anywhere."

	"I'll let him know."  There was a short nod, and then she 
blinked out of view.

	From her place at his back, Hilde slid her arms around Duo's 
shoulders again and gave him a sympathetic squeeze.  "Poor Duo," she 
whispered into his ear.  "You've been tasting most bittersweet these 
days."

	"Sorry, Hil," he apologized, a sad humor tinging his voice.

	"Hey, where is Heero, anyway?" Quatre asked, suddenly realizing 
who was missing from the picture.

	Duo stiffened slightly within the circle of Hilde's arms.  
"He's... out on recon right now."

	"Is he also tracking down the dragons?"

	He shook his head.  "No.  He's... been working on tracking down 
Epyon, actually.  After all, we need to have somewhere to go after this, 
don't we?"



--------
not that it matters, but you might recall, for some bizarre reason, that 
duo's grandmother was a succubus (cf. kdvt02).

_________________________________________
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The basis for this fic, i.e. Gundam Wing, 
Kyuuketsuki Miyu, et al., is the property 
of someone else.  The author can be con-
tacted at jchew@myrealbox.com.  This has 
been an entirely automated message.
http://www.cs.hmc.edu/~jchew/misc/gw.html

last modified : 12/7/2002 01:46:22 PST