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Kyuuketsuki Duo
Sanguis Draconis
Part I
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	It had been a couple years since last he had visited this town.  
He made the effort to come back here when he got the chance; really, he 
did, but sometimes his work kept him away from home whether he wanted it 
to or not.  This time, however, he hadn't let it, not when he had 
received word that all of his close friends would be in town at this 
time as well.  Well, not all of them, perhaps, but the ones that could 
be expected.

	He looked up at the front facade of the café he was about to 
enter.  A couple of years ago, there had been talk of refreshing the 
look of the place.  Nothing ever came of it, though.  The old building 
still had that washed-out look about it, but it had a reputation, and a 
location conveniently accessible to the local teenagers.  He walked in, 
and tried not to feel old.

	A waitress intercepted him by the door to point him to an 
available table, but he politely declined, informing her that he was 
meeting someone, and that someone was already here.  She shrugged and 
left him searching the café for the man he knew was there.  He could 
feel him, a familiar, unobtrusive presence on the edge of his senses, 
but had difficulty locating him visually.  When he finally did locate 
him, he had to roll his eyes.  Of course, the one he had been looking 
for would be sitting quietly at a table in the near corner, with nothing 
at all blocking him from plain view except for that peculiar talent he 
had always had for slipping by unnoticed.

	Emerald eyes were laughing silently at him from an impassive 
face by the time he reached the table, no doubt amused by the way the 
searching gaze had swept over him several times without even marking 
him.  "Quatre," the eyes' owner murmured in greeting.

	"Next time, either I'm getting here first, Trowa, or you're 
going to have to wear a fluorescent pink shirt," Quatre complained in 
response, sliding into the seat next to him to leave room for the two 
others they were expecting.  "I swear, I think you do this on purpose."

	"I was looking straight at you the whole time," Trowa stated 
blandly in his defense.

	"Yes, well, next time, look harder," Quatre huffed.  "Or wave 
your hand or something.  Like this."  He waved at the pair that had just 
walked through the door, and the two headed straight for their table.  
"Wufei, Meiran, what perfect timing.  I just got here myself."  He 
turned to his companion to throw a smug look in his direction.  "See how 
quickly they found our table?"

	Meiran took her seat on the inside, with Wufei following shortly 
thereafter.  "Hey," she said brightly for the both of them.  She knew 
better than to expect Wufei to chime in with any sort of enthusiasm.  
"Long time no see, guys."

	From there, Quatre and Meiran carried the light conversation 
over tea and coffee, with the other two speaking pretty much only when 
they were asked a direct question.  It didn't phase the others, however, 
for they were quite used to this state of things, except for during that 
one brief year in high school when they were not four friends, but five, 
or maybe five and a half.  And now they were years out of high school, 
and all well-established as real world adults.  "Say," Quatre brought 
up.  "Has anyone heard from Duo lately?"

	Three shaking heads indicated a negative to that question.  
"He's probably busy," Meiran shrugged.  "Was there something?"

	"Hm?  Oh, no, not really.  I mean, I'm sure things are going the 
same way they've always been going for him.  I was just...."

	"...just?"

	Quatre shook his head.  "There was just something I wanted to 
ask him.  It wasn't anything important, I guess.  Just a little matter 
of curiosity.  It'll probably become irrelevant in a little while 
anyway."

	"What's up?"

	"Well..."  He looked at each of them in turn before his gaze 
flickered to the rest of the occupants of the café in recognition of 
their public setting.  "Has anyone else noticed a slight... increase 
in... activity lately?  Not necessarily an increase, I guess, but, you 
know, some more things we don't normally see around here?"

	Wufei pierced him with his dark eyes, his interest in the 
conversation suddenly flaring up now that they were no longer speaking 
of idle matters.  "Yes.  I recently met a few creatures out of the East 
that I never expected to encounter here.  I thought that perhaps they 
had simply come for a change of scenery."

	"Hmmm."  Elements mixed together inside of Quatre's head to form 
possibilities.  "I might be inclined to agree, if I hadn't been noticing 
the same thing.  I've seen things that fall within my specialty and 
yours.  Would you agree?"

	Wufei nodded solemnly before a previously unrelated thought 
announced itself to him, and he shared it with those gathered.  
"Shenlong has seemed a little restless, lately."

	"I wonder if something's happening that we ought to know about.  
I don't think I've seen anything that might account for this.... Have 
you?"

	He shook his head.  "No.  But perhaps it's nothing."

	"Perhaps," Quatre conceded.  "But it bears keeping an eye on.  
Better safe than sorry."

	"Maybe we should just drop by Duo's place," Meiran suggested 
lightly.  "Maybe he'll be in or something."

	"I don't think he'd like that.  He guards his space jealously.  
Besides, that place is warded in more ways that I can even count."

	"What makes you think that he could explain this, if there is 
indeed something to explain?" Wufei asked pointedly.  "Do you believe he 
has something to do with this?"

	"All these years, and you're still suspicious of him, Wufei?"

	"Of course."

	Quatre breathed out a tiny sigh.  "Maybe we can ask around.  
I've made a few contacts in the business.  Maybe they know if 
something's up."

	"You really think this might be something?" Meiran inquired, a 
brief flash of worry passing through her eyes.

	"It's probably nothing," Quatre reassured her.

	"But we should check on it anyway," Wufei added firmly.  
Something in his gut stirred that insisted that this was no set of 
coincidences.  Convergences in the netherrealms almost always meant 
something.  Hopefully, one could see the larger picture before it was 
too late.  He wasn't ready to commit wholeheartedly to there being a 
problem yet, but these creatures were a shady lot.  Something was always 
happening somewhere, even if it wasn't the something that one expected.

	They set the topic aside for the moment as they wandered back to 
speaking of other inconsequential matters.  The years had not passed 
without contact between the four of them.  It was good to be up to date, 
but no one was surprised by anything that was brought up.  Wufei's 
attention wandered again, absently answering when spoken to.  He stared 
out the window between Meiran and Trowa, watching as suburbia drifted 
lazily by, when a single solitary figure caught his eye across the 
street.

	She was standing still amidst the flow of traffic; that was why 
she stood out.  But the reason why Wufei's eyes widened shortly before 
he stood abruptly and rushed out the doors was the jet black hair 
braided in loops that framed a familiar face with dark, mocking eyes and 
blood red lips twisted into a smirk.

	Wufei stumbled his way out of the café, almost running into the 
sign announcing the special of the day as he kept his gaze fixed on the 
woman across the street.

	She winked and looked smugly back.

	Halfway across the street, a delivery truck came speeding around 
the corner.  He paused to let it pass, and when it had moved out of his 
line of sight, she was gone.  He ran to where she had been standing and 
looked wildly up and down the street for any sign of her, although he 
knew he wouldn't find a thing.

	Inside, his companions were startled by his sudden departure.  
"What the hell...?" Meiran spoke aloud what was on their minds.

	Trowa, too, was caught by what Wufei had seen.  "Who's that 
woman?"

	The other two focused on her, seeing that she appeared to be in 
Wufei's path, just in time to observe her seemingly vanish into thin 
air.  With a quick glance at each other, they threw a few bills on the 
table and hurried out to join their friend.

	Wufei still stood rooted in place, glaring fixedly at the spot 
he was certain the woman had occupied.  He didn't stir until Meiran 
touched his arm cautiously.  "Wufei?  What's wrong?"

	He flinched away from her and the question, only shaking his 
head in disgust to look down the street again.

	"Who was that woman?" Meiran tried again.

	Wufei stopped and turned towards her slowly.  "You saw her?"

	"Yeah.  Yeah, we all did, right?"  She looked to the others for 
confirmation.

	"Then she really was here," he murmured, mostly to himself.  "I 
thought I'd only--"  Dark eyes narrowed suddenly as he raised his voice 
in outrage.  "Then she was mocking me!"

	"Who's 'she'?" she asked for a third time.  "I didn't like the 
feel of her."  That elicited a grunt of agreement from Trowa.  Although 
neither of them could freely manipulate energy, they could still sense 
it, and around the woman had swirled a dark, ominous aura.

	"She looked kinda familiar...." Quatre mused aloud to himself.

	Wufei snapped around to stare at him silently for a moment 
before he grabbed the man's arms and confronted him intensely.  "You've 
seen her before?  Where?  Tell me!"

	"Relax, Wufei, I'll tell you, so you can let go of me."  A glare 
from Trowa backed up the calm statement, although the blonde was 
certainly capable of taking care of himself.

	With an effort, Wufei unclenched his fingers and took a step 
back, crossing his arms over his chest in a show of impatience, 
prompting Meiran to touch her hand cautiously to his arm again in a show 
of support.  They were all on the same side.

	Quatre took the time to clear his throat, but not for the 
purpose of leaving Wufei in irritated suspense.  "I'm not certain if I 
saw her specifically, or just someone similar to her.  I'm sure the 
netherrealms are rife with her kind."

	Wufei snorted.  "That was not helpful, Winner."

	"I just said she looked familiar, that's all.  I just have this 
image in my head, like I've seen her lurking in a shadow somewhere...."

	"Are you going to make me ask you again, Wufei?" Meiran demanded 
of her old friend.

	"What?"

	"Who was she?"  She enunciated each word quite clearly and 
slowly so there could be no mistaking the question.

	With just one last fruitless glance down the street in both 
directions, Wufei sighed in resignation.  "Her name is Lei Fang."

	"I know that name..."  A sharp intake of breath.  "She's the one 
that turned your cousin, isn't she?"

	He nodded stiffly.  "I have met her once before," he explained 
to the two men standing there with them.  They knew some of his history, 
but not all of it, and if Wufei had his way, they would never know all 
of it.  "She was the demon that helped free the one I seek."

	A quiet 'ah' of understanding fell from Quatre's lips, bringing 
with it several other things that came together obligingly into a 
cohesive picture.  "I remember now.  There was this human that had been 
killing people ritualistically.  When I confronted him, there was 
something lurking in the shadows behind him, and he was tied to it 
somehow.  When I was about to trace it, a figure stepped out of the 
darkness just long enough to kill him before retreating.  I think it was 
this Lei Fang of yours.  I remember the hair."  He paused, a slightly 
confused doubt knitting his brows together.  "And legs.  Long, pale 
legs."

	He looked up at Wufei as if apologizing for the oddity of that 
last impression, but the Chinese man only nodded grimly.  "That sounds 
about right," he agreed, thinking back to the demoness he had seen that 
one night years ago.  She had been wearing a pristinely white dress with 
long slits up both legs.

	"What do you think she was doing here?" Meiran asked worriedly.

	"She was mocking me," he repeated flatly.

	"Well, no offense, Wufei, but why would she be doing that?  I 
mean, she's left you alone for quite a while, right?  Why would she 
suddenly show up now?"

	"I don't know.  Maybe...."  His eyes unfocused slightly as he 
stared off into the distance, considering the possibilities.  One came 
to mind, and with a sudden dire certainty, he knew it was most likely 
correct.  "Maybe it's time."

	"Time for wha-?  No."  She breathed that out as if she could 
stop it from happening by not speaking of it aloud.  She wanted to 
protest that he was wrong, that he wasn't ready for this yet, but the 
words froze in her throat.  She knew that this day had to come.  Wufei 
had lived for this.  Maybe, just maybe he was as ready as he would ever 
be, but what if *she* wasn't ready for it yet?

	"It must be," he refuted quietly.  "As you said, why else would 
she be here?  It is time."  He felt strangely calm as he spoke.  Rather 
than being filled with the anger he had half-expected from being 
reminded vividly of his need to avenge his family, the cool, ruthless 
edge of purpose crept over him instead.  "Excuse me," he said to all of 
them, bowing slightly before turning to walk down the street and towards 
the place he called home in this town.  There were preparations to be 
made, things to be done, and he didn't want to waste a precious moment.

	Meiran stared after him wordlessly for a moment before spinning 
to meet Quatre's troubled eyes.  "Do something," she demanded of him 
helplessly.

	"Like what?"  Demons weren't his specialty, and it wasn't as if 
Wufei would allow himself to be diverted from his chosen path.

	"I don't know!  Just... something!  Just to make sure he doesn't 
just rush into something without being prepared, like when Duo sat him 
down and-- Duo!  He left a way to contact him, right?"

	Duo had left his instructions on contacting him with a request 
that it be used in case of dire emergency, for instance, if a gaping 
hole in the Dark had been torn wide open by forces unimaginable and he 
somehow didn't manage to notice on his own.  Or, he had added laughingly 
in an aside to Quatre, when Wufei finally managed to admit to himself 
that he loved the girl that stood steadily by his side.

	Quatre reasoned to himself that this probably qualified as an 
emergency.  Duo would want to know if something terrible had happened to 
one of them, wouldn't he?  And if they stood by and did nothing, then 
something terrible could happen to Wufei, right?  So if he contacted Duo 
now, then it was like just being a little early about the terrible 
happening, maybe even early enough to avert it.

	On the other hand, Duo was the guardian.  He had as much as 
admitted that his friendship with them had been a fleeting thing, 
something to last the year and then be forgotten.  Maybe he didn't care 
about their fates.  He certainly had bigger and better things to worry 
about than a handful of humans.

	Oddly enough, what convinced Quatre to go after Wufei in the 
face of that doubt was the thought that something this major might just 
force the two fiery, proud Chinese into openly caring for each other, 
and Duo had quite specifically said that he wanted to know about that.

	"Wufei, wait up!" he called after the retreating figure, jogging 
to catch up with him.  The others followed suit.  "Let's contact Duo."

	"Why?"  Wufei slowed only slightly for them and cast a look at 
the spiritualist out of the corner of his eye.

	"Do you even know where to start?"

	"Do you somehow believe that Duo will know where?" he countered, 
smartly sidestepping the question.  He had to start, regardless of 
where.

	"Well, maybe not," Quatre admitted.  Duo dealt with all things 
Shinma, after all.  "But he has his ear to the underground.  I'm sure he 
must know something that might be of use."

	Wufei may have been proud, but he wasn't stupid.  He wasn't 
about to throw away a possible resource recklessly, despite how he might 
have felt about it.  "You may contact him if you wish, but I will not 
sit around waiting for him to show up."

	Better than nothing, Quatre thought.  He tried pushing his luck 
just a little bit further.  "We'll do it tonight.  This evening.  We can 
do it by his house.  If he shows up in a little while, great, you can be 
right there to talk to him.  If it takes too long, then you can go about 
your business and I'll be sure to get back to you if or when he shows."  
Seeing that there was a considering look in Wufei's eye, he nudged just 
a wee bit more.  "You can use that time productively, you know.  You can 
plan your next steps, and we can even help you, if we can.  This won't 
cost you anything."

	A long silence, and then a curt nod let Quatre know that he had 
won his point.



--------
just for reference's sake, the main backstory for this movie event would 
be in kdtv04, 'enter the dragons'.  the minor details aren't 
particularly important, but you should at least be familiar with what 
happened that night, because i'm unlikely to do anything as blatant as a 
flashback when there's a perfectly good fic with all those details 
already written, and cutting and pasting is tacky.  then again, i always 
assume you're familiar with all the kd that comes before whatever i've 
written.

q: so, why did i name this sanguis draconis?
a: i dunno, it sounded cool?  latin lives?  it sort of has relevance?  
naming random things in latin makes a lot more sense than naming random 
things in japanese.  one day, i was looking at the ingredients of this 
chinese rubbing stuff, and lo and behold, one of the ingredients was 
sanguis draconis, and i was like, whoa, that's cool.  turns out it's 
actually the name of a root or something, though.

_________________________________________
This piece of fiction is the intellectual 
property of the little turnip that could.  
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 : 11/22/2002 01:02:14 PST