"Horse Tales"

Written By: Kaeru Shisho

Disclaimer: I don't own any part of Gundam Wing or its characters, nor do I make any monetary profit off this story.

Rating: NC 17

Warnings: Yaoi, Very AU, so very AU it's AD, another dimension. The GW boys are horses. My apologies. Please heed the warning.

Pairings: 1x2, 3x4, 6x5

Summary: A few lucky stallion purebreds are given a second chance at the Horse Haven Sanc-tuary.

A/N: In defense of my writing this extreme version of a GW story… Waterlily and Snowdragon made me do it, heh, heh…

" Horse Tales"

Chapter Sixteen- Sweet Sixteen

(o) Trowa 's POV

I wished I hadn't overheard what I had, but I had. Duo and Heero were having some problems. Heero's possessive mounting of Duo was getting him nowhere, much like circling a ring, 'round an' 'round. Duo was snarkier than ever. I didn't know exactly what he was feeling, but he was obviously uncomfortable with that particular attention. Heero was nippy, jumpy, and oozing excess hormones, expected from an Alpha male and our leader. I was about to kick them both from here to the fence and back if they wouldn't come to terms. Duo had to learn his place and Heero had to be a better leader.

I didn't like the way Zechs watched them, still feeling his way into our hierarchy. He stood about like he ruled the place, but he obediently fell into line on Heero's orders. Neither Beautiful nor I wanted him for a lead horse. I didn't know how Wufei felt, except that he'd dropped the hair chewing for a while in favor of posing in the sunlight when he thought his Lordship was looking. It seemed that way to me, anyway.

It had been my beautiful lover's idea to separate Duo and Heero and talk, while doing plan preparations. He was talking to Heero now, leaving Wufei with his Lordship and me with Duo.

So, here I was, following his orders instead of kicking horse ass to get Heero and Duo to play by the book. I told him straight out that I was not going to talk sex with Duo. Not my strong point, talking. Doing, on the other hoof...And I wasn't trying to pass the buck, either.

I put both front hooves down and pounded back and forth for effect. No, no,no. No sex talk with Duo, said I.

He batted those long eyelashes of his at me. Whatever I'd been thinking escaped me right then. He was so pleasing to the eye. Good thing I was back to standing on all fours or I might have keeled over, that's all.

He told me to leave that to him, for which I was almost happy, but not. I didn't want him talking sex with Duo, either, even when he sugar-coated it. And there was no denying the fact that Duo was a charmer. One thing could lead to another. And his participation in any active demonstrations with my Beautiful didn't appeal to me.

Too late for telling him what I'd do or not do, though. I might be number three and him number four, but that only got me so far, and since that included topping him, then I couldn't, didn't, and, unless I went crazy, would never complain.

But when it came to arguing, I could put my hoof down and I could lift it up, didn't matter none to him. He'd flash me those big round eyes of his and I'd go pretty much to mush and forget any argument I mighta had. No, my pretty friend just bugged about ordering me as he saw fit, while I happily obliged him.

As I was doing now.

As it was, Duo and me had other things to do and were doing them, but there niggling away in the back of my mind was Beautiful's suggestion. To his mind, I could try straightening Duo's head out when it came to flirting with the new stallion, starting immediately. Now, I was sure Duo had no idea all his attention to his Lordship could be mistaken for flirting. He hadn't figured out what Heero was trying to do yet, I was pretty sure.

Cluing in Duo on what he was doing not only sounded reasonable, it was within my realm of talking points, and didn't force me to shoot my mouth off about sex. He was just a sweet colt not really ready for it, was how I saw it. Anyway, I agreed to give it a try. I nudged Duo's side to get his attention. "Hey."

"Hey, Spot, I'm awake. Just resting my eyes."

Spot. What a nickname, but he had a penchant for naming us all, so it was okay. Better than Wufei's "number three" designation for me. Glad that ended. "Okay. Don't worry about Wufei and his Lordship. Watch the shed."

"He's so a vampire and no one takes me seriously. Look at him study Goldie preening in the sun. He'd better leave him alone."

Not happening, Duo.

"From what Beautiful's passed on to me, his Lordship's problem is plain: he misses an old friend. The lead horse in his regiment went missing in action and they were real close."

That's how my beautiful Quatre explained away his Lordship's world-weariness, and that's what I told Duo.

"So he started poisoning himself over that? He's crazy."

"Probably he is."

"Well all got problems, but you don't see us wallowing. My owner was crazy that way and my friends died from his neglect. I don't want that to happen again."

What I wanted to say was more along the lines of "stay away from him" or at least point out how he was giving Heero a heap of heartache by devoting so much attention to the new horse. Not really fawning, that was Wufei's realm, but showing more interest than Heero could take. And I didn't know how long it would take for this new dominant stallion to think Duo was standing up to Heero. If Heero didn't punish him, it could be interpreted as weakness.

Would Zechs challenge Heero? I couldn't say. Beautiful wasn't sure, but didn't feel he "had it in him"-yet.

I was sure that if I tried to tell Duo to ignore the new horse, he'd get his defenses up. If I didn't say anything, he'd bring up the subject of Heero all by himself. That was my guess.

"No crazier than Heero, though."

Sigh. I hated being so right. I slipped in the point of contention now, saying, "His Lordship's a challenge to his leadership position, you can see that, can'tcha? He's supposed to act that way."

Duo shifted uncomfortably a second, like he was deciding whether or not to tell me to mind my own business.

Well, I'd tried.

Then he shook his tail excitedly. I saw what he saw, but he was first to say something. "There!"

A workman stowed some buckets in the shed and moved away.

Our eyes had never left the scene in front of us. We'd been watching the goings-on at the storage shed most of the morning. I'd been watching it for weeks. I'd observed the schedules humans followed, the patterns linked to the numbers on the clock, and set them to memory.

"Okay, the man's gone. You think he left the storage door unlocked?"

"Yeah, they do during the course of the day, every day I've watched. Open at ten and close up after three, unless a work crew is out, then the crew locks up when they are done. No one's around from twelve to one, when I reckon they take an eating break."

"Lunch time is our window, then."

"That's right."

He looked up at me expectantly.

And I told him, "Soon."

All the humans gathered outside the house to eat communally at that time. Long wooden tables had been set out in the shade of oak trees as old as the hills. I didn't know where they ate when the weather wasn't so fine. Another building further off, maybe.

The last stable boy ran to the tables as we stood there.

"Okay, let's go." Duo was about to charge over to the shed, so I chomped onto his neck to hold him back. "Hey! You leave a mark an' 'Ro won't be so happy about it."

Nice try. I wasn't leaving a mark, and he knew it. I let go when he stopped wiggling. "Slow and easy. We got's time. No reason to draw attention."

"Oh, yeah. Think they're looking at us?"

"No, but the doctors could be. I don't see them."

"We juss be chilling then...heh, heh."

I liked Duo's enthusiasm almost as much as that of Beautiful. Both could make the sun shine on a stormy day, even though Duo was black as soot, 'cept for the scythe-shaped blaze down his nose. I wondered if he was aware of how striking a pair he and His Lordship made-black and white tails blowing free and mixing in the breeze? Probably not. But our fearless leader did. Heero was an exceptional horse, but he couldn't mask his dislike or jealous feelings toward the new stallion.

We drifted toward the shed, grazing on a weed or two along the way. I really only had one more message to pass on, so I did it before I forgot it. "Duo?"

"Yeah? Moving too fast?"

"No, you're fine. It's- uh-"

"Spit it out, sweetheart."

"Heero, uh, no... It's more about Zechs-"

"The Count? Yeah, he's a character, isn't he? Easy on the eyes, for sure, like all the undead, but whatta headcase, right?"

"About that vampire stuff, you don't think he just puts on an act to tease you, that he just a washed-up old war horse?"

"Hell no! Not on your life! And I mean it about the "your life" part; you're putting it on the line 'round him."

"He's what Beautiful calls 'a destabilizing factor for the herd'."

"He would." Duo nosed his way into the shed. It was large enough for the two of us. "Which one of these cans is the white paint? Sure wish 'Ro was here to read labels."

Hadn't thought of that. There were a lot of cans. "It makes Heero jealous when you hang with Zechs or watch him or talk about him, which you do a lot."

There, I'd spit it out plain as day.

"Because he's a vampire! Jeesh! I gotta keep an eye on him! You never know when he's gonna wanna snack and then grrrrr-snap! He's gotcha!"

Horse Gods above. "How about I do that part? No, I can do you even better, Wufei can watch him every minute, if he has to," which he already has been by his own choosing, making it real easy for me, "and you guard Heero. Wouldn't want our leader to get, ah, drained."

"Wufei watch The Count? That might work, if he believed me about the vampire threat. He's falling head-over-hoof over the him and his 'warrior ways', though, and might miss the actual attack for all his starry-eyed-ness."

"We'll keep an eye out as well then, and you protect Heero."

"You and Sunshine will watch for sinister creepiness? Promise?"

"Yeah. Maybe we can rope that stupid cat into helping."

"Percy, yeah."

I must have settled him down. I could see the worry evaporate of him like dew in the morning sun. Heero owed me, not that I'd ever get to collect on that debt.

"All right then... Whaddya think of that stack of cans? They got white paint smears on the outside."

To me, they all looked like white smears. My color vision wasn't as keen as his, apparently. I knew one horse in the circus who swore she could tell red from blue from green, and was the only one of us to choose the right ball to kick every time just to prove herself. "You pick."

"We'll take a can to Heero and let him check it out."

That went better than I'd thought it would, but then I hadn't hoped to achieve anything. I'd keep an eye on his Lordship, when Wufei wasn't glued to his side, and Heero would get the devotion from Duo that he required.

Good. Real good by my reckoning. Beautiful would be proud of my achievement. And we had the paint.

"Ah, shit! Human intercepting us."

We'd been spotted. Both of us for a change. Duo loped over toward the stable and took a nose dive into the roses and one of the human workmen was screaming. Why would a couple of horses be carrying around a can of paint? I couldn't think of a way around it, but Duo had been a step ahead of me. The human wasn't interested in the can at all.

"Whew! Ditched the can in the bushes. Man, that dude's upset about his flowers, though."

The gardener. "He thinks we're after his flowers?" Better than being caught carrying paint cans, I guess.

"One of us can fetch it later when he's gone."

And when Heero's not busy. I could see him in the distance talking with Beautiful still. I needed to buy them more time. Life could be so complex. I was glad we all had one another to talk to.

"So, tell me about vampires." I didn't know what I'd let myself into with that.

(o) Quatre's POV

Trowa's task was to collect the paint can, the one we would use later for Heero's "pinto" disguise, and to convince Duo not to flirt with Zechs. My plan was to get some alone time with Heero and knock some romance into his blunt head. Of course, his first inclination was to trail after Duo. He wouldn't fall off a cliff in the black horse's wake, but he would stand at the very edge, lean over, locate him, and drag him back up, if possible, or find a way to rescue him, all the while berating him for stupidly getting himself into that fix.

Heero was besotted without a clue as to what to do next, and he was jealous of the newcomer for attracting Duo's attention. For all the wrong reasons. I knew Duo wasn't interested sexually in Zechs. I could feel it. Duo was fascinated by him for bringing to life one of his colt-hood fantasies-a vampire trotting and flitting amongst us. And it seemed to the rest of us that Duo hadn't been able to prove to Heero where his heart belonged, something he wasn't gifted at doing even if he could express himself endlessly on other issues. Their combined incompetence could spill over into our herd dynamics, mess with the execution of Heero's disappearance, and spoil everything.

Not that I felt Zechs was about to push Heero aside and take over as lead horse, but his position in our herd was not set. Anything could happen and Duo's stubbornness and Heero's uncertainty could trigger an explosion to reorder us all.

Which is where I came in. Wufei was more than willing to take on Zechs and draw him off, while I cornered Heero.

Actually, I cut across his dogged path to meet Duo and said, "Let them handle the paint alone. Too many horses will draw attention."

He stopped. Blinked. "True."

"And while I have you alone, I'd like to talk to you about your relationship."

"It's personal."

Don't think that attitude is going to get me to back off! "I'm sorry, but it's messing with the livelihood of the herd, Heero, and if you weren't so involved you'd see it yourself."

"It's that new stallion."

"Zechs? He's just a little pebble in the pond making ripples. Your relationship with Duo is a fall of boulders damning the flow of water in and out."

Heero raised his neck and tried to stare me down. He was very good at doing that. He had male dominance down pat. My stomach churned, but I defiantly held my own against him, while appearing meek to an observer.

"I can help you. I know he's devoted to you and his interest in Zechs is only-"

"He refuses to have anything to do with sex with me." Heero just blurted that out.

"But he loves you, I can tell. He cuddles against you whenever he can."

"Like a brother."

I did not believe that.

"I'm like his older brother, taking the place of his previous stable buddy, and I hate that, especially after the things I think about doing to him."

Guilt. I was assailed by his guilt. "Have you told him? Does he know how you feel about him?"

"He rejected me! What part of that didn't you get?"

"He's very innocent, younger than the rest of us. I explained what I could to him, and he understood it all, but-"

"You gave him the sex talk?"

"As it turned out, yes. He seemed okay with it too, by the end."

"It must have been an act of his because he wasn't okay with it at all. What exactly did you tell him... and why?"

"Why? Duo had been avoiding me, and when I questioned him about that, eventually he said that you, apparently, had mentioned something to him about Trowa and me, not that I minded terribly, but your remarks had come totally out of the blue from Duo's perspective. He couldn't even look me in the eye he was so upset about it."

"I thought he knew-"

"How sex worked? What it entailed? How it could be a loving bond and not just a mark of ownership? Well, he didn't, so I explained how it all worked and that it was nice."

"The 'nice' part didn't sink in. He won't let me- even when I forced- oh, never mind."

"Oh, I do mind. I mind a great deal. I don't want him spooked. I want your attention to be one hundred percent on business when we meet next with the Mustangs, not wavering and waffling on about Duo- or Zechs, of all things."

"I can keep my mind on-"

"You can't." That earned me a rigid neck and glare. "Heero, I feel these things. In humans and horses alike. What you two are going through is normal and fixable."

"Hn."

"It is. I'll talk to Duo again. Maybe I could be more explicit about the preparation part. I told him it didn't hurt if there was enough spit-."

"You said what? Under no circumstances will you talk to him about that, any more."

"He has to learn somehow."

"Not from you," Heero said with absolute certainty.

Right into my trap he fell. "So, you'll be instructing him?"

Of course not. Heero had the drive for sex, but from the nervous vibes he was transmitting I felt certain that he had little to no practical experience to draw from.

"I could have Trowa teach him a trick or two," I suggested with total innocence. I practice.

"No!"

"He's very gentle-" I could tell I'd gone too far with the suggestion, so before he could snap my head off I threw him totally off balance. "Then he'll have to learn by seeing. He'll watch us-don't say no! Hear me out."

He did, and then he told me, "Trowa won't like it."

"Let me handle him. You keep your focus on Duo."

(o) Wufei's POV

He was magnificent-just as Heero had noted. And now he was looking at me. ME! Just me.

Of course, I turned so the sun caught me at just the right angle and my sides glowed. I'd been taught by exacting trainers to do that to excellent effect. And it worked again. His eyes were drawn to me, as I was doing my best to appear to be the battle-hardened warrior I felt I had in me.

"You appear to be made from molten gold. What breed?"

"Dragon clan, Akhal-Teke." My mouth had gone so suddenly dry I wasn't sure how that came out.

"Akhal-Teke," he repeated to get the pronunciation correct. "As I had thought. A singular breed in these parts. Your coat is stunning. Like pure molten gold. Molten gold."

He must have liked the way those words flowed off his tongue since he repeated them. I liked his long, fluid tongue.

Then he stunned me.

"I can't imagine humans riding you into battle. You would shine like a beacon."

But, but...! The injustice!

"Unless that would be the strategy. Draw the attack toward the beacon and away from the real weapon."

He'd insulted me and yet built a pedestal beneath me from which I could glow from my non-accomplishment. Unfortunately, his was a valid assessment of my worthiness. I chose to step off my artificial plinth and find my own support, shaky as it would be.

"I was restricted to parades," I admitted with stifling humility.

"Wasteful, but then humans lack imagination. They seriously underestimated the value of my life *, so I'm sure they do it for other horses."

His expressive, sad eyes looked away into the distance. Looking for solace from his conflicted past, perhaps?

"Ah, it appears that they made it inside the storage shed."

Say, what? Grrr... he was just tracking Duo! Now that's not fair at all! Get your eyes off him and on me. ME!

"Or maybe they didn't. I'm just a throw-away any more. Incidental."

Throw-away? What was this perfect-specimen-on-hooves talking about now?

"Absolutely not! Howard was devising your trade from the start. None of us are considered insignificant here."

"Like a ghost drifting on the moors-"

"Excuse me? Who might I ask is the ghost?"

"The regiment's command horse. My rider was shot, killed, so was his. The battle was terrible and bloody. There I walked amongst the crying of the lost, the laments of the vanquished... I trampled dead men, their blood mixing with the mud, to get to him."

"Your rider?"

"No, my esteemed leader."

"Was he injured?"

"I assume so. I don't know; I didn't see him fall. He'd just disappeared. Gone, gone like so many others. Unburied and forgotten. Left to die with the other fallen like so much useless baggage."

"Oh, so you never found him, your leader." I was floundering in my own fog.

"No. I wasn't left to wander long enough. I find I cannot quietly sleep in my grave while his spirit is still roaming.* My will to fight had gone with him and I was sold and sold and sold."

Too gloomy. I'd trod that brooding path myself. I would do well to restore this noble stallion to his righteous state of mind.

"Well, you are treasured here. We all are. We receive the finest care. Howard and the doctors chose us all carefully, structuring a herd of excellent stallions for their enjoyment."

"You do no work?"

Up until now? No, but now I think of you and engaging in many, many remarkable activities.

"We take the humans on pleasure rides and have time to pursue our own interests."

"Have you?"

Yes! Oh yes oh yes oh yes and it's you! No, I mean, not yet. What was he asking? "Have I interests or have I taken up any?"

"Both, either, choose what you like."

How about you?

"Me?"

Preserve me, ancestors! I said that aloud?

"You're young, a stallion. Why would you want to waste that on a lost cause-?"

"Piffle! You'resuffering from battle fatigue," you gorgeous, brooding aristocrat, you. "What you need is fresh air, pasture, and-"

"Distraction?"

In the form of me, yes. I did not mistake his seductive inflection. I'd heard it before, fallen prey to it before. I'd been curious and seduced and used, not completely against my will. It left me with experience in the ways of love, which meant that this time I was aware of what was being inferred and what I was setting myself up for. As scandalous as free-mating seemed once, around these other hot-blooded stallions, well, they weren't in the position to judge my behavior.

"Yes, and a friend." I dearly wanted a soul mate of my own.

"A very, very good friend."

"Yes." A mate.

"Well, that changes things, doesn't it?"

"I hope so. I like this place. It is my home. We are all happy here. I could be happier, still." That sounded so slutty I nearly choked on it; in fact, I did, coughing in embarrassment. Disgraceful, possibly.

"Oh, I'll see to that."

I sobered up instantly. Perhaps I ought to be clear on all this? "I was just wondering-?"

"Yeees?"

Oooh, the way he drew out that vowel made me shiver. And then he flipped yards of white, silky tail in my face. Oh, my! I licked, sucked in a mouthful. Damn my weakness, ancestors!

"I recognize a chewer every time. I need a trim, if you're up to it?"

Justice, at last!

"Let's take this someplace more private, say, your stall?"

Yes, lets!

And if he challenged number one, then that could lead me to becoming number two, a comfortable position in the herd.

(o) Duo's POV

I wanted some alone time to chew over the recent conversation. Spot looked doubtful that he should leave me alone; at least, that's how I interpreted his long face.

"I'm fine."

He still didn't budge and he still gazed mournfully at the paint bucket.

"I just wanna think before running into 'Ro, 'kay?"

Long pause while he processed that and assessed my mood and stability.

"Sure. You do that. I'll just take care of moving the paint can myself," he promised and left muttering something that sounded like, "Pack your plunder- we're headin' for the border."

Okay, so he'd actually been waiting for me to offer to retrieve the paint bucket. He maybe cared about my feelings, too. What counted was he'd left me be without another lecture or word of advice.

Stare at the clouds and think is what I did.

Where did everyone get the idea that my sex life was their business? Not from me. No way. Anybody think to ask me what I wanted? No-o. Me, I wanted to be left alone. Let me an' 'Ro work it out for ourselves, and that slow and over time. No pushing, er, rushing it.

I wanted the nuzzling and the warm body next to mine. I loved the ear action and the way he rubbed my back. The rear attack? No, baby.

Well, someday. I'd take it under consideration, but I just wanted to wrap my head around the idea for a while. And I didn't like how everyone knew everything, but me. How everyone wanted us to just do it already and calm Heero down. Jeez...

That all really steamed me. And mortified me to death. I'd just explain it to Heero real clear how I felt and hope he'd still like me. He'd do that, wouldn't he? Sure, he was patient.

Not only that, but they-I say "they", 'cause I knew Spot spoke for them all-figured me for a fool. There was no way, no way that The Count was playing me. He was a vampire, through and through. It would take my urban chutzpa to keep him in his place, and vigilance. I mean, sure The Count might tease me and pretend to be playin' the part of a vampire when the others were around and might see, but he was evil through and through.

And then it occurred to me, we should put that immortal acting ability to some use. There had to be a way to exploit the vampire to our advantage when next we faced the Mustangs.

He could take them out one at a time.

No, that would build him an undead posse. Bad idea all around.

He could threaten them.

Would those stupid wild horses even know he was threatening them with eternal damnation when he flashed his blood-sucking teeth? Ugh, probably not.

There'd be something, though. I'd come up with something.

In the meantime, Spot and Sunshine, if he spoke for him, too, would be watching The Count. Oh, yeah, and the cat. Now, how could I get Percy to watch for signs of evil trickery? Being a fellow creature of the dark, it shouldn't be difficult for a cat to plug into the vampire thing, but this cat was a deal maker. He already had us all at his beck and call. I owed him big most the time. What more could I do for him? Steal Howard's fish bait from the cooler?

And there was Goldie. Yeah, like he'd keep an eye on the vampire, yeah. Keep a tooth on all that hair, more likely, which reminded me of how I hadn't seen hide nor hair of him and The Count, or the others.

And then Heero trotted up, looking good. He always looked good, but today he looked real good to me. "Hey, handsome, where's everybody?"

"Testing the paint, or about to." His nostrils flared. Kinda sexy.

I nearly told him that, but didn't. I didn't wasn't to give him ideas or lead him into thinking about those things. Not ready to talk to him.

"They are opening the container," he went on. "I'm getting a brush."

They could use The Count's tail, if it came to that, but Heero was gone before I could suggest that alternative. Not that it mattered. I was in a better mood, having worked through my problems on my own, and decided to go see how the paint worked. It was at the crux of our plan to hide Heero.

I figured the others to be in the barn, but no. Nada.

"Hey, Sunshine!" I called but got no answer. Not from nobody.

So, I checked their stalls. I assumed he and Spot were messing about trying to open that paint can in their shared stall. I heard the noise, then I saw-

"More Trowa, more!"

Oh, fuck, ah I mean uh...

I backed away towards the far end of the stall lineup, but not before getting an eyeful of my two friends getting it on.

Spots before my eyes!

UGH!

And blindly backed past Goldie's stall to The Count's.

Where said horse was bare-backing Goldie to the same tune as the aforementioned pair.

I whirled about and this time rear-ended a warm body.

"Duo? Are you all right?"

Heero!

I opened my mouth to talk, but my vision went speckled, then mercifully all was dark.

* These were direct quotes from the series

Horse Notes:

Herd and hierarchy.

One of the strongest of the horse's natural urges is the herding instinct. Before horses were domesticated, their survival depended to a large extent on herd grouping. A horse alone stood little chance of survival, yet a community of horses was much more likely to survive.

But whereas human friendships normally are formed between peers and equals, horses relate to each other in a hierarchy. Every herd has leaders, followers, and a well defined pecking order known as a dominance hierarchy. The alpha horse is the dominant leader in a herd. Horses instinctively seek leadership, and the alpha horse provides that security in a herd. Rather than feel oppressed or unhappy, the hierarchy gives the low-ranking horses a sense of security because they have a specific position in the herd, and know exactly what they may and may not do.

With herd instinct always at play in the background, a "newbie" horse can quickly learn something new by watching one or more experienced horses do the very thing you want to teach.

Chapter 17

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