The Blood of Peace
First Movement, the Fourth Part: Legato of Meditation
Heero closed his eyes and shut out the images of the four boys in front of him. These were his advisors, his Masters. They just were not what he expected. He felt a headache coming on.
"Oi, man, are you okay? You seem to be getting a bit green around the edges. Want some water?"
Heero cracked his eye open to see Duo speaking to him. Of course it would be his Master of Assassins who spoke. He seemed to have an insurmountable amount of words in his head. Heero looked into Duo's eyes and found that he was surprised. Duo's eyes, a most intriguing color of violet, peered at him with concern and a faint bit of amusement. Tearing his eyes off of the curious purple eyes, Heero glared at Duo's braid.
"Isn't your hair a bit too impractical for an assassin?"
Heero's terse question seemed to greatly amuse Duo since he smirked at him and flipped his braid forward for an inspection.
"Nope. The hair's just fine. Maybe you should really use a brush on your hair. How can you be a prince with messy hair like that?"
An inane comment from a braided fool. So it shouldn't have irritated Heero. But it did. A lot. Fortunately, Trowa intervened. Trowa was very good at these interventions.
"Heero, Duo. Wouldn't it be better if we got to know each other before bloodshed?"
Heero grunted and stopped glaring at Duo. Trowa did have a point and he couldn't very well kill his Master of Assassins. Life was just unfair sometimes.
"Fine," growled Heero, "let's get to know each other. Better. Since Duo likes to talk, Duo can start. And no rambling."
"I resent that comment! I do not ramble. I think. Anyway, where shall I begin? Why am I such an attractive and intelligent man? How do I deal with my fair ladies when they throw themselves at me? Or should I begin with my incomparable charm and character?"
The four boys listening to Duo cringed at the overly dramatic beginning to Duo's introduction. Only if he would just get to the salient points…
"Duo, why don't you begin with why you are the Master of Assassins? We were all chosen because we are the best in our fields, so why are you the best?"
That question was from Quatre. Leave it to him to be diplomatic, thought Heero.
"Well, okay then! Why am I the best thing to have ever happened to assassins? Let me see. I'm swift, never miss a target, intelligent, incredibly good looking and absolutely flawless with Deathscythe. Oh, Deathscythe is my weapon of choice, no one sees it because when they do, they're DEAD! And yes, I'm so good at what I do that I am called Shinigami. If that's not cool, I don't know what is."
Duo paused and looked around expectantly. What, was he waiting for applause? Heero was definitely not impressed with his introduction since he could not reconcile Duo's nature with any type of assassin. The boy was just so… brimming with energy and bouncing. And beautiful. Eh?
While Heero sat there with a slight frown at his strange thoughts, Duo took another breath and continued his introduction. He would have continued if he had not heard WuFei utter something under his breath.
"What, WuFei, did you say something?" Duo was curious since he was getting tired of coming up with different adjectives to describe himself. WuFei looked at Duo and said, "I said, Maxwell, you are not the most modest of people."
Pause. Shit, Heero thought, this thing is not going as well as planned. The five of us are going to have problems if we keep insulting each other. Or rather, WuFei and Duo. Then Duo did something that made Heero nervous. He smiled. And he started to speak again, this time at WuFei.
"Thanks man. Modesty gets you no where so… but you were listening! You didn't hear modest and you pointed it out! Outstanding. Glad to know what I'm saying isn't escaping all of you."
"Kind of hard to ignore someone when they are laying it on so thick."
"WuFei, you gotta learn to sell yourself! It's all about the first impression. From now on, you'll remember me as that talkative guy with really damn fine traits."
"No, more like that loudmouth idiot with an ego the size of Oz."
"Ah ha! At least you said Oz. Wouldn't do to have an ego the size of Sanque since that kingdom is really small."
"You take my comments as compliments? What, are you daft?"
"NOPE. Just like to look at myself in a positive light."
This strange conversation would have gone on if Heero had not jumped into the fray to forestall any more idiocy. Sure, by now he expected it from Duo but WuFei should be a bit more reserved. He was the Master of Swords. He should be more controlled.
"WuFei, Duo, enough." Three small words, said in his 'shut-up-or-I-get-violent' voice had no effect on them. They kept exchanging insults and ignored him entirely. Quatre and Trowa looked at them like they were at a tennis match, heads swiveling from one boy to the other. Heero was very, very annoyed by now.
"SHUT UP!"
"Eh?" Intelligent Duo had a savvy comeback for everything but Heero's expression did not allow for comebacks. Instead, he shut up. Voluntarily.
"WuFei, Duo, if this is your idea of getting to know each other, I would prefer that you did this when I'm not within earshot. Now, next. WuFei, since you're fond of talking, tell me about yourself, and Duo, NOT A WORD."
Duo rolled his eyes and slumped in his seat. Heero the prince was turning out to be a major pain in the ass. But the prince had these blue eyes. Intense ones. Duo had to admit that he was interested in those eyes.
During Duo's reverie of Heero's eyes, WuFei told a short story about himself. Apparently, WuFei was the foremost warrior in his society of foremost warriors. The Dragon sect, the society which produced very exceptional warriors. He was personally chosen by Odin Lowe himself for his son. He was very proud. He thought it was a great justice to his skills. Duo was getting a bit antsy with WuFei's talk of justice and warriors.
Heero absorbed all of WuFei's comments. It was too bad that tradition had forbid him from learning or researching of his Masters. His ancestors, who are apparently all dead and should have had no say but did, decided that bonds of brotherhood were formed more readily and strongly when people chose to open themselves up. But still, a bit of research would have told Heero that WuFei, while a fine warrior, would be a bit of a stick in the mud. He wondered how WuFei would take it if he disappeared like he was wont to do when he felt trapped. Well, at least it couldn't be as bad as Sylvia's screeching.
Quatre jumped in when WuFei finished. Heero diverted his attention to Quatre and saw immediately why he had been chosen. Odin must have also seen the earnest quality to him. Not to mention the innocence. So Quatre is one of the prominent Winners. The sole heir, impressive; twenty six sisters, scary; became Master of Whispers because of the strong empathic ability. All good. Except the sisters part. Heero could not imagine that many of them. Sylvia was the closest thing to a sister and he wanted to strangle her most of the times.
When Quatre was done, Heero turned to Trowa who only looked at him. When the silence wore on, Heero got irritated, Duo got sleepy, WuFei spaced out and Quatre looked apprehensive. Finally, Trowa said, "Trowa. Most excellent spy. Proven infiltrator. No relations. No home. Nice to meet you all."
That was it. And people told Heero he was short on words. Then something occurred to him. Duo had not said a word throughout the whole thing. Maybe Duo did know how to follow commands. Or maybe the idiot just fell asleep. Which ever the case, Heero was glad that he was silent. Then, Heero realized, he thought it too soon.
"Are we done with intros? 'cause if we are, I'd like to get the hell out of this red room before I'm permanently damaged in the psyche."
Yep, he had spoken WAY too soon.
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