Perfect Element
Part 6 - Tender Moments
A small figure was running down the large corridor with a trail of soldiers behind him. His slippered feet wee silent against the large sandstone lining his way; he quickly made his way into a room and barricaded himself.
"Please Master, you mustn’t leave the main chamber! It is for your protection!"
ËÑí took off his large turban and fanned his reddened face. A large quail feather tickled his nose as the hat brought him some comfort of air. The young god looked about the room that he snuk into and found it was very large with high ceilings, no tables or chairs, just walls and a large open window. Making his way across the room, he let his embroidered over coat fall to the floor, causing a soft swishing sound over the upturned toed gold slippers. His trousers were knee high and held onto his creamy skin nicely.
He walked over towards the window that stood taller then himself and peered out. Soldiers were scurrying about as a taller gentleman made his way through the forces.
"Now Master, we are only doing this to protect you."
Flushed with anger, "Am I not strong enough to wipe out your army and protect myself? I am not fragile!"
"But you are important, two gods have already been defeated!"
"And I have by choice if I wish, please stand down." He rubbed slightly at his chest where a slight burning sensation echoed. "I cannot promise you protection if you lock me away!" Eyes bright blue with slight fear and anger he saw Rashid bow and tap the large sword on the ground.
"As you wish Master. We will not see harm to the Element holder." The large man stood down and gave a curt bow before leaving the area with troops in tow.
ËÑí exhaled as he slumped down on the floor, "He comes on the winds and waves, but to tread on Earth, he must pass my test." The boy’s eyes glazed over golden as his chest beat with a golden glow.
~
Groaning in the small futon, Duo opened his eyes and shut them immediately to the bright light. "Ugh…I hurt." He rolled over and pulled the large kimono over his head as protection from the light.
Sitting in a corner, Heero got up and slowly made his way out, sliding the rice paper door behind him. He went into the next room and kneeled down in front of one of the elder geisha that he trained while she was making tea.
"My time is coming that I must depart. As you hold loyalty to me I must to that who defeated me." His head hung low as if in shame but looked up as the old woman began to speak.
"We are safe from harm as we stay by the waters. No one will know of your departure so they will think you still hold rein and protect us. I will send a girl to play the flute to the edge of the pier as I do every morning. Do not leave in fear." The elderly geisha took her whisk and stirred harshly ten times watching the foam with her dark brown orbs.
"But I fear, more for you as myself."
For the first time she looked up and lifted her hand to Gogyou’s cheek, "Fear nothing, he is no more a master to you and Viento Sama as you are to us. Be brave but not coarse, show the compassion that you teach us to play and he will come back to you." Her hand went down and her eyes back on the tea.
Heero watched stunned, "When did you-"
"I may not be as old as you, but I know. He will come back to you if you show compassion." She lifted the teacup and held it towards him to drink one last time with her.
"Arigato Oba san." He bowed and took the green brew and sipped loudly.
~
Trying to get up, the longhaired man was pushed back down by three fully dressed geishas.
"Iie! Duo sama!"
"E? E E E! Let me up!"
"Iie!" Their small sharp voices rang together.
Trying to move the larger female another would quickly take her place speaking Japanese and pressing him further into the futon and covering him with blankets. They struggled until a shadow entered the room causing them to stand and bow their way out of the room keeping their faces at an angle so their hair wouldn’t fall out of the decorative styling.
Finding his chance to move, Duo found himself being pressed back down by a large quivering orb.
"What in great’s name!"
Gogyou leaned against the heavy-sided wall, "They told you not to move, only an idiot would move with your wounds."
"Well your looking at the King Of Idiots! Now get this thing off of me!"
Looking smug, "You move it, it is only water."
He looked across his chest at the large clear mass that jiggled, it looked the size of two cannon balls if not three. "How?"
Stepping off the wall Heero kneeled on a pillow by his master’s head. "There is water in the air, so in a way I can control the air myself as Viento can stir up flames and bend the will of earth. We coincide each other."
Looking thoughtfully he nodded a bit to understand what the Water god just said. When he used Winds against Huo, it only caused the man’s power’s to raise as he attacked harder knocking him quicker to the ground.
Heero closed his eyes to the silence, letting his other senses take over.. He smelled the slight ocean spray miles away and heard the crashing of rocks. Opening his eyes in wonderment, he never done that before. When he meditated he only heard the trickling river and the soft smell of wet earthy mud. "Why do you smell like water?"
Looking puzzled for a second he snorted, "For one thing I have a huge water ball on my stomach." Duo looked over and saw the god’s deep blue trousers with long rectangle sleeves crossing onto the floor and his lap. "Plus you tried to drown me last night, so I believe I am covered in water."
"Not ocean water. Salty springs of it and the crashing of the waves with your breath." Gogyou looked over at the captive scrutinizing his glaring violet eyes, softer and more rounded then Heart’s.
The longhaired man craned his neck, "I don’t know why. Sorry if that is only answer I can give you." His eyes never left the sitting god, curious to his inane questioning.
Slowly, Heero bent down closer to Duo, smelling the stronger currents and waves. He could hear the playing dolphins in the ocean spray as he bent farther down to the young man’s face. The hot air of breath on his face was a gentle caress of sun on the sandy shore.
The violet eyes closed softly, long black lashes rimmed the large orbs as Heero slipped his lips over the other in a soft moment of kiss. A torrent of water overflowed him, choking back the air from his lungs, drowning in the memories and this ocean.
The large water ball on Duo’s chest exploded, covering the two causing them to break the kiss. Water dripped off Gogyou’s face as it turned a deep crimson color. He clutched at his lips and stood up quickly and ran out of the room chanting ‘gomen’ along his way.
The Element master grunted as he sat slowly up, water trailing down his face and chest where the orb glistened before him.
Trowa looked in to see Duo sitting up on his elbows watching the door curiously. "I say, what happened to you? Insult Gogyou and get a water bomb?"
He only shook his head causing soft water droplets from his bangs to splash around, fearing to use his voice at the moment.
"Well, you are wet, wide eyed and blushing- Oh dear."
The longhaired man scrunched his eyebrows together, "What do you mean ‘Oh dear’?"
"Oh nothing." Trowa sat down on the pillow and pulled his knees close, green eyes trained on the prostate form before him.
The young man shook his head; "it is insane."
"Maybe so, maybe not."
"Don’t start with me Trowa."
"What do you mean? You’re the one who refuses to talk." Behind his knees laid a secret smile.
"I don’t know." He turned over to face a different direction, "What is the meaning if a man kisses you?"
Viento snickered in his mind, ‘jackpot’. "T’was it a kiss of death or of friendship?"
"I think it was more." Duo turned over to look the Wind god in the eye. "It held power and longing…but it was just a simple touch as in a friendship kiss."
Viento nodded his head, ‘This t’wll be fun indeed.’
"Do you know of anything of the Japanese?"
"Not a clue." It showed on his face. "What I have learned is that I am called a ‘baka’ by almost every person of staff here and they are very polite in it."
Laughing loudly, the green-eyed man had to wipe a tear away from his amusement. "I think you will learn in time the meaning, but they are sometimes very respectable. It is know throughout the royal class and the samurai or solider class that women can be swayed with power and control. A woman would gladly stick a dagger in her husband’s back if it meant power. They seduce and wield that power. Samurai with a wife sleep with their swords close in case she thinks of taking him in his slumber. But in another case, a man will kill another man with honor, to his face in the light of day or lantern. They think a love between two is the most powerful and beautiful union and for gods, we think both unions are beautiful." Trowa sighed, "As for Gogyou, his lover died at the hands of our last master and you remind him of the other god."
Duo nodded, taking in each word of the story. He tried to think of himself in the kiss and came back to the dream he had last night.
The large hand again crushed his body, leaving him dead and a broken orb at his feet. Blood boiled up from his lungs, covering his chest in red rivulets; eyes softened and glazed as his body was limp and slack. A cry was heard, someone wearing a deep blue kimono covered his body trying to wake it but failing only to weep with his head over the man’s chest. Gogyou cried out the name ‘Heart’ over and over again trying to rouse him only to sniffle to himself, alone now.
Duo saw the Water god wrap the body in violet linens, and drop it into the crashing waves of the ocean. Gulls cried overhead lamenting with the water god as he dropped to his knees. Dolphins jumped from the icy waves and caught the body, gently taking it down to where they could guard it safely.
"It was me…" Duo sat upright, wincing a bit with pain, "I was dreaming of the past…Huo, ËÑí…Heero, you…I remember." He looked up into the worried emerald eyes of Trowa.
"We will never know."
"No! I know! I used to be Heart." Duo looked down sadly, "But I don’t have the orb, so I am utterly useless."
Viento wanted to hold the young man and soothe him, telling him the Heart was safe inside him. But if he did it would cause Duo to never reach into himself, it had to be fought out like the rest of them. Time is what they needed but did not have.
Finally with a deep sigh, Duo looked up; eyes glistened a little bit. "By the way, where the Hells were you?"
Clicking out of his stupor of memories of his own Trowa pulled a large clothed package from behind his back. "It is to replace the blade you lost with Huo, much stronger and fit for a king."
The Element keeper reached out and took the package and opened the red silk ribbon holding on the cream colored cloth. Away it fell to show a coolly carved scabbard enriched with fine details and smelling of fine leather. He lifted up on the silk wrapped handle and let the blade unlock from the scabbard and hiss as it glided across. The light caught the hand beaten blade, smoothed and polished to perfection. It was light in the hands and deadly sharp compared to the old hip weight he used to own.
"Thank you, it is very beautiful. Are you sure it is a sword? Feels very light."
"It is a thousands fold iron beaten sword. Men lay their necks on a cutting board to look at such a prize." Trowa got up and stretched his long legs. His green trousers hugged the curves of his thighs as the boot leather squeaked in protest. "But I warn you, once a blade tastes blood it will want more. I have seen many men under the power of a blood thirsty blade, eyes dull and body slack as they carve through towns and villages."
Duo placed the sword back in its sheath; it made a soft humming sound delighting his ears. "I will be careful. I am not one to kill unless provoked."
Nodding in approval, Viento walked towards the doorway. "Do you think you will be able to join us for lunch?"
"I was hoping so, and in the morning travel to Riyadh for the Earth orb."
"As you wish."
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