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"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 Six-The More the Merrier (0) Duo's POV I don't know why I was so good to him. Heero just ignored me. And after I'd nearly died! He saw me; he stared right at me, so I know I saw me. Hey, I looked terrific all clean and shiny in the sun, how could he not see me? I think I even spied a drop of drool hanging off his lip. Anyway, then he saw her, his 'Lady', nearly broke his neck doing an about face, and then there he was wrapped in her lurve, baby. He'd picked Relena over me. That was proof of how unimportant I was to him after all. And I hadn't complained. I'd done most of the giving, but it hadn't bothered me until the Big Snub in front of our friends. Oh, yeah, I was "acceptable" as a meadow friend, a handy place to rest his head and a super sidekick who'd follow orders without question, and, like this time, he could count on me to get him out of a jam, but was I worthy of public recognition or deep affection? No-o way Jose. Something like that. I'd thought things were going well, but the cold-shoulder was a real let down. Call me a skeptic, but 'Ro certainly hadn't appeared to put much store in me, until he got himself into this latest fix. Still, loyal to a fault as I might be, I wouldn't let him down, no matter what. So, I did what I could. I didn't want to lose him. I didn't want him getting sold off, sent away. I didn't want to lose another friend. I heard Sunshine's voice, "Here he comes now!" and there they were, all three of them looking expectantly my way, making me wish I could understand what the humans had said so I could be sure, absolutely sure. Heero's stare drilled holes through me, not that I blamed him. He had to be worried. I shuffled about half in and half out of my stall. As the humans scampered off to other duties, I moved into the walkway to more easily face them all. "I did my best and I think Howard got the gist of what happened." "You found the fire stick? You showed it to him?" "Yeah, the stable chump was using his foot to push it under some straw, ya know? So the minute he moved I nosed it out and covered it with a hoof. Howard was babbling and I got his attention with a kiss-which works really well. Oh, and thanks, Spot, for teaching me that trick." "My, ah, pleasure," Spot muttered under his breath. "Um, gotta go." Heero swung his head about to level his glare at Spot. It occurred to me how our conversation could have been taken two ways, one wrong and one what I'd meant. Leave it to 'Ro to take it the wrong way. He mighta been a little more grateful. "Like I said," I raised my voice to get his attention back, "he picked up what was left of the smoking stick, not that it was on fire anymore, but it was black and the straw around it charred." "Howard noticed all that?" "Yeah, and he looked pissed. The stable kid did a lot of fast talking, pointing to the door, as if he'd been outside when he lit up. Howard told me to go back to my stall, so to speak, and I did, and just caught sight of him and the kid marching away toward the house." "But we don't know what he means to do about Heero!" "No, Sunshine, thanks for bringing that up." And just when I'd gotten him to stop grinding his teeth! Sunshine ducked his pretty flaxen head. "Oh! I'm sorry." His voice had gone all watery, and now the sun shone a little bit less brightly. "Naw, my bad. You're right." "But I don't feel anything really bad from Howard. I mean, from what I can sense, he's not terribly angry at Heero or any of us horses." "Thanks, that helps." I meant it, too. Sunshine felt things strongly about people and horses sometimes that the rest of us didn't. "Let's hold on to that." 'Ro remained unreadable. "Thank you. You did all you could. We'll just have to wait now." Not the ending of the day I'd hoped for. We got around to our evening arrangements after that, Spot joining Sunshine in his stall being the norm now. I hung my head out the back, chewing on the last of my hay and looking at the stars, hanging bright in the sky. Without cloud-cover I knew it would be cold tonight. I'd noticed more brown than green grass in the meadow. "Duo." "Yeah, 'Ro?" "I feel-" he snorted and scraped his feet fretfully. "Something's changed. Something's not right with us. I want it back the way it was." Put in his rather blunt, but achingly honest way made me tear up; I missed our closeness, too. "Oh, yeah?" "I think- no, I was told I'd made a mistake greeting the lady before you. I'm sorry." "Yeah, your little birdie told you right." I could see him and the stars were his background. My heart pounded with anticipation. He just smoldered with power and strength, closely guarded, mind you. "That kinda brought back old injuries: rejection, partings, loss." "Where you said you'd come from, the city stable?" "Yeah." What was he getting on about now? "You left friends behind?" Ugh. I'd not wanted to talk about this stuff, but then it all just came pouring out of my mouth. "No, no... they left me. They all died, 'Ro. One by one, they died of disease, starvation-and real fast! I thought for sure I'd be next. Solo, he was the last. He pulled a cart in the park, giving rides. I was to be trained and paired with him; he said so, but, well, you how it is with humans. Never know. Our owner smelled like sour fruit more times than not. Our food went south and our bedding not changed more than was needed, if you get my drift?" "I-I can't imagine. Dead comrades, yes, I understand. Mine died in a fire, while I lived." "Fire? No wonder-" he was so vigilant. My throat tightened and I went a little, well, hoarse. "But I could see you had to go where your bread gets buttered. We all do, don't we?" "Bread? Forget it. I have no intention of leaving- willfully. I want to stay here, with you. I hope I didn't damage the stable boy in such a way that they think I'm a danger. I'd hate to cause you more...grief." "Aw." How sweet, huh? He proved himself to be a brave and loyal friend. I stretched his way and touched noses. "Wanna come over and share my stall tonight?" I don't know what had come over me to suggest that. He didn't snort me off, curiously; rather, he shocked me to the core by asking me over. "Mine's more private." Yep. That would leave my stall and Spot's as barrier from the other two. "Okay." Some horses I knew would lie down like Spot and Sunshine. Because I woke him up one morning, I knew first hand that Sunshine would lay flat out snoring, while his ears, legs and tail twitched, leaving me to wonder what he was dreaming. It made me think about something he'd mentioned to me. Maybe about his stablemate's spots migrating or, worse, infecting his lovely color like the plague? But not Heero. He'd lock his legs and let his head and neck droop, and during deep sleep I'd watch his ears relax, eyes close and the lips droop. Pretty cute. Of course he didn't admit he ever slept. He only rested. Yeah, well, he wasn't fully conscious or aware of what was going on around him, so I called it sleep. I was mostly a stander, too. But tonight took a different path. We stood awhile, stargazing, and then he started messing around with a lot of male posturing, and that climbing onto my back stuff. I'd seen Spot and Sunshine playing around that way, too. I figured it was just a game, but when I tried doing that to Heero-egads! Did he get rough! "I mount you, not the other way around," he insisted. "Only if I let you," I retorted. "I'm the leader!" "You gotta catch me first." And in the tiny space allotted us in the stall, I wasn't hard to catch. And he was strong so he pinned me more than once. It was an okay game, but he was heavy so I pitched him off into the straw. "Enough," I told him, finally. "Fine." He was all right with that, having "won" a few times, I guess, and then we both slumped to the soft straw. Making up was a lotta fun. I loved our horsing around, and he made a warm and solid pillow after getting all fired up. (o) Howard's POV I nearly strangled the kid for talking on his cell phone and lighting a cigarette around my horses. Even after explaining I had a horse who'd survived a barn fire and was particularly skittish, he lit a cigarette. Whether he'd stepped outside or not, the proof was on the barn floor. I didn't hesitate firing him immediately. Duo surprised me. It was as if he could understand what was going on. At first, I'd thought he was begging for a snack, picking up the circus horse's kissing trick for attention. Now that apple slices were off his diet, he readily adapted to what was next best, carrots. But no. There he was poking around in the straw locating evidence, a once smoldering cigarette. I knew he and the Thoroughbred were close, but this was weird if he was helping him. And I have to say I'd become concerned about our splendid Heero. Aggressive behavior in stallions was dangerous. He'd have to be monitored closely from here on out. This time his attack was arguably justified, but the next could be deadly. And then there was the Darlian girl upset. Doctor J had been furious at Miss Relena's unexpected visit. Heero was ours! Her visit had distressed the horse, everyone could see that. I hoped her threats with lawsuits was the result of an emotional outburst and not grounded in reality, because we'd fight to keep Heero. Unless he became a liability. Having witnessed the awe-inspiring expression of physical force generated by two stallions fighting, I can't help but wonder at our ability to harness such elemental power. There is certainly no doubt at all that stallions who learn to dominate humans by force can easily become dangerous to work with and homicidal in extreme cases. It is little wonder how stallions have also attracted a certain amount of 'bad press'. Still, I refuse to let that color my opinion of these horses, and Heero in particular. I checked my watch. Did I have time to look in on the horses? I had left them so suddenly last night, and it wasn't good to abandon such emotional animals like that, especially Heero. "Mr. Howard, sir?" "Yes?" "He's humping Duo again." "That's okay." "Are they gay?" "No, son, they're not homosexual; Heero is trying to establish dominance and herd position." "It looks pretty weird for just guys, you know?" "It's just behavior that happens in bachelor groups with no access to mares. Without access to heterosexual activity, many stallions mount other stallions and others adopt mare-like heat display to entice other stallions." "It's still pretty weird." "Then don't look." I had too much to do to worry about my staff's sensitivities. The phone rang and I let my secretary in the inner office pick up. I wanted to see Heero before I was delayed again. It was not to be, though. "Excuse me, sir. Call is for you- an agent of a Chinese general." "Chinese general? Sounds intriguing. All right." I punched the "call waiting" button. "Hello, Howard here. What can I do for you?" We quickly moved past the opening pleasantries. "The general breeds top quality horses. Tip top. We have a stallion, marvelous Akhal-Teke specimen, but-" There was always a "but." "He refused his chosen mare. Naturally, if he's not good for breeding, he's no longer of use to the stud program, and we have others just as fine for show. The general has proven studs eager to mount the heir to the Long blood line and will not waste food on a stubborn beauty." This I had to see. Akhal-Teke with noteworthy bloodlines were rare in Sanc. I'd go as far as saying they were non-existent to date. "We are highly selective and will have to see your stallion before making up our minds." "As one would expect." After that it was up to his staff to make arrangements with mine for delivery, and our conversation concluded. I immediately rang Master O, who hadn't a horse of his own. Another engineer who was part of the Sanctuary ownership team, Master O was completely bald and had an imposing stature and musculature from his martial arts activities. His tastes ran toward the military and exotic, and possibly this horse would suit him to a "T". "Master O, I may have just located the mount for you-" (o) Duo's POV Howard eventually came out to the stable and talked to 'Ro, making the poor guy feel better, I think. At least he left him untied so he could move freely around his stall. Of course, I untied him every chance I got, but I wanted Howard to forgive Heero. When the guy offered him apple slices, I knew things would be all right. I don't know if Heero took any; I found a couple still in with his feed later that night, and he let me have them. The whole ordeal had left him low and killed his appetite. We snuggled together again that night, but he remained quiet, mulling over the day and everything that had happened. No games this time. The next few days after that a new stable boy came on board and gradually things returned to normal. If they were looking to get rid of Heero, it wasn't happening right away. I felt the humans watching him more closely, but he was so well-disciplined and even tempered, they had to forgive and forget, right? And our little ray of Sunshine told Heero that Howard loved and admired him so much he had nothing to worry about. That hadta have made him feel a little better. One afternoon, Sunshine and Heero romped about the arena, showing off their fancy gaits, while I was entertaining my buddy Spot, though not on purpose, as I fumbled with the main gate latch. Once I figured this one out, we'd be able to wander up to the house and other outbuildings, something Heero wanted to do. The design required two hands with fingers to operate with a spring-action clip that snapped back into place before I could raise the lever. "You could help," I told the clown on the umpteenth failure. "I could-" "Get over here and look." I should have known the moment Spot came within touching distance of me, Heero would stop everything he'd been doing and come over to investigate, and Sunshine, too. Now I'd have a full audience. "Show Sunshine how clever a horse you are and look smart." "I am smart. I can count." "Great. Then count while you do this. When I pull back on this gadget, you gotta push up on this other one with your nose-got it?" Hilarious horse that he was, he stopped his "counting" to remark, "-Four, five ... move your fat ass so I can." Now, Sunshine, he might stand and watch politely, holding back on his curiosity once he was sure everything was okay. Not my Heero. "What's going on?" he demanded to know everything all the time. "We're gonna open this gate now. Onna count of..." "Three, for Trowa!" "Thanks Sunshine. Okay, three." We weren't as adept at the timing as I'd hoped. The third try got it open, though, just as the humans came exiting the house like bees from a hive, so we shut it fast and looked stupid just standing there lined up in pairs. Then a trailer pulled up and a great whirlwind of human activity took place in the drive right before our eyes. I heard Heero gasp and realized he must have thought they were preparing to take him away. Sunshine must have understood, because he pointed out, "It's okay. Look the trailer is not empty. There's a horse inside." A new horse. Heero pushed between Spot and me to get a better look, and Sunshine eased up on Spot's far side. "Oooh! Pretty!" "Yeah, but not beautiful, like you." Heero gagged. Spot was such a charm-tongued clown; I wondered how Sunshine could stand it. One look and I could see Sunshine just gleaming like butter and nickering his happy thoughts, lapping up the honey. To each his own. Not that I would object to a few compliments from Heero. (o) Howard's POV First of all the horse was gold. Metallic gold. His ankles were taped in black, a sword holder hung off his shoulder, sword missing. His dark forelock pulled back and bound in a complex weave with the thin, black mane, which- along with the tail wound in black leather one third of the way down- gave this horse a severe appearance. "His name is Dragon." He stood at attention, head erect, unmoved by the fly teasing his nose until it reached a lip, and then only the lip flipped and the fly was history. One ear flicked off another fly and there was an involuntary shiver of his skin when another teased him. The gleaming animal impressed me immediately with his poise, and gravity. "Odd styling of the mane," I observed. "Formal parade form- and I advise you keep it that way. He is used to having his mane out of his eyes. Won't tolerate obscuration of vision." I would let the groom deal with that problem. I couldn't believe this proud horse was prissy. "He and Heero can compete for most disciplined, don't you think, Master O?" Master O smiled and seemed unable to stop petting the gleaming fur. Yes, he was very, very excited over this horse. "Dragon? Ridiculous name, even corny and stereotypical. Wufei! We'll call him Wufei, our fifth!" Wufei looked like a warrior, but he was a parade horse who'd never seen a battle. "I'd like to put him through his paces, next." (o) Duo's POV "Looks like we's gots outselves an aristocrat in our midst," Spot observed in a funny put-on accent he claimed reflected his origins, whatever those were. "He has that look," Heero agreed. He gave away little of what he was thinking. Howard led the shimmery stuck-up horse toward us, we who were standing in the path to the arena. Oh, yeah, the grand horse's narrow squinty eyes widened enormously as he got a look at us. "What expressive eyes!" I thought our little ray of Sunshine had that right. I wondered if he felt his flesh sear like I did as that fiery gaze cut past us. "What did we do to him?" Spot wondered. I guess he didn't care for the contemptuous glare either. Sunshine shook his mane and backed up a little. "He's just frightened and I think we are making him uncomfortable with our staring." "I don't give a rat's ass." Spot was unsympathetic, and oddly Heero winced, making me wonder if he had a thing for rats, coarse language, or appearing heartless. "Any horse that looks like him is used to being the center of attention." Then the sun came out from behind a cloud and the newcomer actually glowed. I know I gasped aloud. "Wow! Now that's a horse of a different color! He looks like a metal statue I've seen in a big downtown park." Howard put him on a long rope and had him run around in the arena. "Magnificent," a word I hadn't heard Heero utter many times, if ever, and never about me. Well, shucks. "Nice action," Spot conceded, "free and flowing." "Yes, he has a soft, gliding, elastic stride." True, but Sunshine always found a way to agree with his night-time cell mate. The gait-testing didn't last for long and then Howard led the new stallion our way for introductions, I was guessing. "Hi," I said, being the friendly horse I was. The statue snorted. Pompous twit. After a careful examination, I guess they judged him good enough to get his name nailed above a stall in our stable. Not accounting for his character, I guess, but then humans were poor at that. "Number 5." I think Heero was proud of his reading ability and liked to show off this skill to the new horse. "What are you talking about?" Number five snapped. "And your name is 'Woo-fay'." "It is now. I'm Dragon. I'll always be Dragon from a long line of Dragons." "I am Heero, number one." "Heero's won all kinds of ribbons in dressage," I commented then immediately wished I'd kept my mouth shut. My friend wished I'd done the same, from the look he gave me. It's just something about the new stallion that made me feel the need to defend everyone's worth to him with endorsements. Those black-as-midnight eyes pierced me again. "We were originally bred as war mounts, now the Akhal-Teke is competitive in endurance, dressage, jumping and eventing. I am proficient in them all." We? Ack-hal-tiki? Well, la-de-da. What kindova breed was that? Just great- well, I wasn't really in the mood for a creative intimidation competition. We'd made it a game of one-upmanship, which I would have to end right off. "You can get down off your high horse and call me Duo, Goldie." He was gold. He certainly wasn't a dragon. I gotta snort instead. Another snort. Heero pretended to ignore us and continued with the introductions. "Duo is number two. Trowa is number three, and Quatre, number four." Goldie focused on the view in the distance. "That's our pasture. Come for a walk." The way Heero said it, though, was more of an order than a request. Now was the time to assert his authority, or forsake it. Sunshine seemed all gung-ho to help out. He trotted around to my side. "While there's still some green grass with dew, let's go, Duo." "And dandelions," Spot added for enticement and stepped in line. I had hoped the snob would stay behind, but he didn't. Probably couldn't wait to show off his high-falutin' qualities. He walked alongside Heero; I was close behind, and heard him say, "Where I lived there was grass as far as the eyes could see." Yeah, well, horses don't see so well or far, so that boast didn't buy him any admirers. He even managed to annoy Heero enough to spark a smart remark from him. "If you can see that well, you might see the wild horses, like Trowa can." Heh, heh. Heero urged him slip through the gate after the rest of us- and by urging I meant his wordless, goading "nip and kick", "bridge no further argument" method to drive us in his chosen direction- before launching himself onto the path over the meadow, and the race was on. Apparently, golden-boy liked to race, and compete. He took off like a cat whose tail had just been stomped. "Yay!" So did our little Sunshine. Heero won, of course. He was exceeding fast. Sunshine and the stuck-up Goldie tied for second, Spot come in third, and I was a close last. I hadn't gotten all my strength back, which made me think of apples and look around for the trees. "They're gone." Sure enough, where I'd once gorged on sweet apples until near death, there now lay a pile of logs and a few shriveled fruit mummies, not worth a nibble. "They were gone the last time-" Sunshine spit out the tail to his face, then clammed up as 'Ro gave him the evil eye. So, I wasn't supposed to notice. I was supposed to forget the trees. Well, I had faulty self-control when it came to food. But Howard didn't have to have killed the trees. That was sad. I felt bad for the trees whose demise was my fault. Nice trees. Spot bumped up against me. "There's others." "Other apple trees?" He nodded. "Next year. We'll go for a walk." I thought I heard a snide, "What's his problem?" behind my back. I wanted a moment longer to mourn my tree, not to have to come up with smart comebacks to snotty comments from a horse with a bee up his ass. I was tempted to ask golden-boy for a meadow comparison-was his bigger, greener, less pock-marked with gopher holes? But every time I started to talk, Heero checked me and the others curbed the conversation to the declining grass quality- past its best with the season's progression-; insects-mercifully, fewer flies-; and the weather-cooling down with dampness on the wind. I got the point. No one wanted me to rile the new stable mate. Don't make waves, Duo. Waves of what, I ask you? Grain? I'd like them to deny that me making waves of grain by the cartload would be a good thing! As it turned out, Goldie preferred to eat in silence, off to himself. Fine by me. When Heero deemed it was time to return, based on the sun angle, he said, and not a human clock, he said pointedly looking at Spot. We all moved out of consideration for his position as leader, all but the new horse. Heero forced Goldie to move as well. Both seemed determined to have their way, but while Heero wasn't afraid to bite, our golden dragon wasn't about to be marked, so he reluctantly stepped into line. Waiting in the sun this day, stood our groom with an array of hair products and assortment of brushes and trimming tools arranged on a table; he looked ready and waiting to look after our needs. "I won't need him," Goldie protested. "I was already cared for prior to coming...here." I nearly told the arrogant ass that he'd be lucky if the groom gave him a second glance, but Heero stifled me with a hunk of straw to the mouth, and nudged me to the head of the line. My tail and mane did take the longest to dry, so I didn't grumble. I muttered and crunched and spat out the dried, musty stuff. Bleh! Apparently, I had said some of what I'd been thinking aloud, and now Sunshine was explaining how I hadn't meant to insult "Wufei" by comparing him to a long-eared, low-class, probably sterile ass. I hadn't, but now I wish I had. Spot went on about the donkeys and mules in the circus, and how they did the heavy lifting. "One day ...one fell into a river..." I missed quite a bit of the joke as water washed over my head. I caught the ending, which went, "so you can kiss your ass goodbye." Heero snorted and shook his mane, so it must have been a good one. The wash down felt great; the comb out, well, I could tolerate it with the globs of conditioner used. I kept my eyes closed during most of the session to eliminate the stinging and through the de-tangling and often dosed while the thickest portions were dried with a human hand-held blower. I drifted in a comfortable zone between consciousness and siesta-time, until I heard a loud huff and snort from the new horse. He'd been looking me over. I have to admit I'm a sight with my luxurious black forelocks, long, black thick mane and feathery tail deliberately left untrimmed so it dragged on the ground. I knew my hair distinguished me, because when the wind blew, Heero'd said I looked like a storm cloud- pretty sweet coming from him. Okay, so I got one stinking little compliment. I sure wasn't magnificent. I was a wet thing in the sky. I was dark, though. Om-in-ous. "Are those hair extensions?" Goldie asked, voice dripping with disdain. "Say what?" "It all can't be real." The hell! "It sure is! All me, mine, and always." And then he licked his chops. He really did. And then and there I knew Howard was letting in a hair chewer. Solo'd snacked on my mane once or twice, until the owner drenched me in some obnoxious smelling product. That discouraged him. It discouraged me from wanting to live, too, putting me off my feed, but after a day or two the stench wore off and I got back my chomping buddy. The next thing I knew, I was being liberally dosed with cayenne pepper- talk about your hotty tamales. It turned out that Solo preferred the other horse's tail for chewing and left me alone after that. Now I had me a new mane masticator to squash. "Is there a problem?" "Not yet," I told Heero before he could assert himself between us. "Oh, Heero! Calm down!" Sunshine whinnied the warning. Too late. The groom hailed over more help and Heero suddenly found himself with a rope on his halter. "Not necessary," he muttered. And then Goldie spoke. "The humans think so. They think you're potentially dangerous and willful. They are afraid you'll attack me, or them, to protect...him." The "him" he meant was me. Spot asked how he figured that and Goldie said, "I understand humans and what they say." Well, damn. Whaddya know about that? He was a keeper after all! Horse Notes: The Akhal-Teke is one of the most ancient and unique breeds of the world. In Chinese legends it was known as the "heavenly horse" and the "horse that sweats blood". The Teke tribesmen took great pride producing a breed of ancient lines and great purity. The horses developed endless stamina, the ability to withstand great extremes of temperature and to subsist on small amounts of food and water. They become devoted to their master and are suspicious of strangers. This horse is notable for its unique hair. In the sunlight, the coat glitters metallic gold caused by the structure of the hair- the opaque core is very reduced in size and may in areas be altogether absent and t The transparent part of the hair (the medulla) takes up this space, and acts like a light-pipe, bending light through one side of the hair and refracting it out the other side, often with a golden cast. |
