---------------------------
Kyuuketsuki Duo
Demons -- The Third Chapter
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	"Alone.  I need to do this myself."  Duo shut his mentor out of 
his mind and disappeared resolutely into the dark shadows, to reappear 
in a place he never been before, although Heero had pointed the way to 
him.  This was the Dark, not the place between places where he had made 
his home, but the true Dark, where the Shinma had made their home.

	Where the Shinma held complete dominion.

	Duo repressed a shudder, and forced himself to do as he had 
decided.  Admittedly, it had been a hasty decision, but he felt that it 
would ultimately be the right one.

	At the moment, however, he was walking blind.  He needed to get 
the attention of the Shinma, but something told him that etiquette did 
not allow a lowly guardian to imperiously summon the Shinma before him, 
and he did need to stay on their good side, if they had a good side.

	It was, fortunately, decided for him.  Shinma gathered around 
the intrusive presence of an outsider, reminding him uncomfortably of 
the night he had first encountered the Shinma, as they somehow made the 
Dark seem darker whilst they convened.  Had anyone, before recent 
experience, ever told him that darkness could have so many shades of 
black, he would have scoffed, but now, in the midst of the Shinma, his 
Shinma senses were receiving a workout they seldom got in the human 
world.  

	The inky wisps surrounded him, stifling him as they thronged in 
their insubstantiality, even though this time they seemed to leave him a 
very small circle of personal space, vibrating with wary respect.  
Apparently, his work for the Shinma had not gone unnoticed.  That boded 
well for what he was about to do.  The individual shadows came together, 
slowly merging into an overwhelming umbra that dominated his senses, and 
Duo braced himself for contact.

	::What do you want here, guardian?::  The effect that the 
enmassed Shinma had on Duo had not diminished with the years.  The voice 
of the innumerable collective still raised all of the hairs on the back 
of his neck.  It still made him want to run for cover from the sensation 
of creepy crawlies slithering down his spine and back again.  He 
reminded himself to breathe, and told himself to forget the 
unforgettable feel of an icy spear of oblivion sliding into his chest, 
and he responded.

	"I come to ask a boon, Shinma," the guardian said respectfully, 
proud in some corner of his mind that he spoke without tremor although 
he quivered inside.

	The reply he received was that of tolerant amusement, as if the 
presence were curious as to what the guardian could possibly hope to 
gain from this show, but receptive.  Duo plowed on.

	"On the night when first I took up my duty as the guardian, 
after you had released my power, you spoke parting words to my 
companion, Heero, formerly a warrior of the East.  You promised him a 
place among you, if I grew to perform my duty well."  They were still 
listening.  He was already doing better than he had expected.  He took a 
deep breath, reminded himself of what was at stake as he gathered his 
courage, and continued.  "I believe that I am competent in my duty now, 
thanks to his tutelage."

	He waited for them to take the hint, but apparently he was going 
to have to spell it out for them.

	"In light of that, I ask that you grant him the place you 
promised, that you re--"

	::We promised nothing of the sort, guardian.::

	Duo choked mid-word in a sharp intake of breath.  "I was still 
aware at the time you spoke to him.  I heard you clearly say --"

	::That perhaps he might earn himself a place.  Nothing was 
promised.::

	He became irate, and clenched his fists at his side.  First 
Dorothy, and now fickle demon-gods playing games of semantics with him.  
But he had let his anger rule him before.  In this situation, too much 
was at stake for him to allow it to influence him again.  This would be 
his only chance to make everything up to Heero, to redeem himself for 
his own selfish arrogance, and he would not risk failure.

	"What, then," he ground out, "can I do for you, so that you will 
accept him into your ranks?  And remove his punishment?" he added, 
raising the stakes.  He had originally not planned to include the extra 
stipulation unless the Shinma were proving cooperative, but they 
themselves had made the opening raise.  He was only seeing them, and 
hoping he wasn't pushing his luck.  It would cost the Shinma nothing to 
do as he asked.

	::We did not set the punishment on him.::

	"But the punishment stayed in effect even after you destroyed 
the creature that imposed it in the first place.  That argues that it is 
of an autonomous nature, and thus can be undone by anyone with the 
understanding and the power.  I lack that.  You do not."

	::This is so.::

	Was it all just a test?  If he had not pointed it out on his 
own, would they have just let him remain misled?  He grit his teeth in 
frustration.  This was why he had insisted so vehemently on complete 
truth from his partner -- because it was in the Shinma nature to deceive 
with half-truths and half-lies.  The moment he began indulging in lies 
was the moment he became one of them.

	::You will prove yourself to us.::

	"How?" he demanded, his patience wearing thin.

	::There is a being in the human realm who dares to use the 
Shinma towards his own ends.  Eliminate him completely, and the warrior 
will be given a place here, his punishment revoked.::

	This was not an insignificant task.  The Shinma, by themselves, 
had no power to accomplish the task by themselves, as they had no direct 
power over humans.  They would have to influence a human to do it for 
them, or else employ the services of a creature such as himself.  In the 
East, tasks such as these had been handled by their hunter-warrior, 
Heero, whose human stock had made him ideal to be molded for the 
position.

	Duo hadn't thought that the task would be an easy one, but to 
ask for this?  That he kill another human?  Had he not already killed a 
human earlier, he would have had no doubts.  The situation sounded 
remarkably similar to Heero's past circumstances, and Duo had already 
established that he would have been more than willing to kill the 
contemptible professor.  However, given his current state of mind 
concerning the previous death, and how it tied in directly to the reason 
why he was here, he was understandably reluctant to kill again.

	::Those are the terms.  They are final.::

	That settled it.  If they were not open to compromise, this 
would be his only opportunity to free his mentor, and he would have to 
take it.  He had not come here to fear risking his life or soul, he had 
come to see that at least some of the damage he had done his teacher was 
undone, even though it meant letting go of his only friend and 
companion, and maybe even a little bit of himself.

	"If I succeed, do you swear by whatever you consider holy that 
you will follow through with your end of the bargain?"

	::Agreed.::

	Duo bit his lip, and hoped he was making the right decision.  
All he could do was trust them.  He reminded himself that the Shinma 
were not being friendly -- they were getting something for practically 
nothing, at least to them.  There was nothing to gain from them not 
upholding their end of the deal, nor anything for them to lose from 
their agreement.

	"Very well.  Then I agree to those terms."

_________________________________________
This piece of fiction is the intellectual 
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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 : 9/13/2001 14:40:26 PST