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"Blood or Chocolate?"Written By: Karen Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing or any of
its characters. Otherwise, the show would've been way different. Warnings: First and foremost, this fic is supposed
to be a humor fic. Shounen ai and Yaoi next. Violence, blood and gore,
supernatural elements, such as werewolves, vampires, evil leprechans,
trolls, witches, and other stuff I think of along the way. Expect
lemons, limes, death of insignificant characters, and angst. (heh!)
OZ people are also going to really intermingle with the GW boys, particularly
with Duo. Pairings: Will be 5x2, 3x4, past 5x1 (and we're
talking WAY in the past), Meizer+2/2+Meizer and everybody+2 (hey,
everyone loves Duo). Summary: Duo Maxwell is an almost average guy
in a small, rural town. He works at the only gas station for miles
around, is gorgeous, but single. He also gets harrassed by the town's
rich idiot. But what makes him different is that he's a clairvoyant;
he can read thoughts by touch or he can simply 'hear' them. Kind of
complicates matters. Yeah. So when he runs across a man whose thoughts
he can't hear, although trying to gives him nosebleeds, he decides
that that is a fair trade. That is until he finds out that the guy
isn't a typical 'guy,' and that getting involved with him only leads
to trouble...and a few dead bodies. "Blood or Chocolate?"
I was at Howard's house. I sat up, and had to wait a second before the dizziness
passed. Once I was steady, I stood, went to the bathroom to take care
of business, then came out into the living room. Howard was sitting
on the couch, watching cartoons but not really seeing them. "Hey Howie." "Hey kid," he said, and held his arm out to me. I plopped down next to him and curled up in his embrace. He sighed. "How do you feel?" I didn't answer right away. "I don't know."
I snuggled closer. "What happened last night?" "I was hoping you could tell me," he said tiredly. "Hilde got a call from Meizer saying something happened, and for her to get her ass home. I went with her, and when we got there, you were completely unresponsive to everyone except Meizer and...Wufei." I almost smiled. Howard was never going to like him, even if the end of time came. "Once Meizer got what he needed from you, we bundled
you up and brought you here." What about my sister? "Hilde's in her old room,
isn't she?" "Yes. Like hell I was going to leave you two there
with those freaks so near by. Fuck that." This time I did smile. Howard didn't use the F--word
often. "There was somebody dead in the kitchen." He sighed, and his hold tightened on me. "Duo,
he's not dead." I jerked away from him. "What?!" His eyebrows raised. He didn't have his shades on, so
I was able to see the tan-lines around his eyes. "He's not dead."
I felt like my head was spinning. I couldn't believe
what I was hearing! "He's not dead?! Why the hell not?!"
"Gee, don't be mad or anything," he said sarcastically.
"You know, the guy's only in ICU at Medina Hospital, fighting
for his life!" "Howard, he isn't just some guy. He's one of the
werewolves!" He leaned towards me in a very threatening way. I backed
up. "What?" he said. I was suddenly very afraid of my uncle. "He's not
a man. His name's Darlian. He's the best tracker of Wufei's Pack."
He ran his hand over his face. "Then why the hell
was he unconscious in your kitchen with his chest crushed?" I gave him a very exasperated look. "How would
I know?" "That's my point. We need to find out." He
got up and went into the kitchen. I followed him. He had poured himself
some coffee. "Shower and get dressed. Wake your sister too. We're
going to spend today finding out what the hell is going on."
"Yes Master," I said dramatically. "I
will do as you say, Master." He threw a dishtowel at me. "If you're up to being
a pain in the ass, you must be feeling okay. Now go wake your sister,
then get dressed." I chuckled to myself. I figured I could wake Hilde by
jumping on her bed.[1] It's been a while since I've done that. Then
I could shower, eat, and get ready to grab this murder mystery by
the balls. Yeah. You know, this might sound strange, but hearing that
Darlian was alive did make me feel better. However, that opened up
a whole new can of worms. If Darlian wasn't the murderer, and I was
willing to bet my life that he was, then obviously someone else was,
and that someone was a werewolf. I felt like Quatre neglected to mention a detail that
I thought was very important. Wufei's Pack may follow him blindly,
and wouldn't lift a paw to hurt him, but I didn't think the werewolves
had any problems hurting each other and dumping the evidence in someone
else's house. I mean, no human could've crushed his chest like that,
or tossed his heavy ass through an open window. *** "Howard, the word ‘inconspicious' means that you blend in, not stand out," I was explaining as we were locking up. "Wearing a bright yellow Hawaiian shirt isn't going
to work." "For me it will!" he shot back. Can you believe
we were actually having a ‘heated discussion' over this? "It
would seem odd that someone of my taste and beauty would go out in
anything but!" "Whatever," Hilde said as she turned away
from us. "I'm not even going to--Heero!" Both Howard and I snapped around at the familiar name.
Yep, there he was. Heero Yuy. I almost started salivating.
This was the first time I had seen him in broad daylight. I knew he
was gorgeous, but shit--on--a--stick! He was hot enough to turn a
straight man gay! He nodded. "I'm glad to see that you're better,
Maxwell." I started to bow, but remembered what Quatre said. I
just nodded in his direction. Boy, did I feel like the Lincoln Monument!
All important... "Thank you. How is Wufei?" He seemed to be weighing his words carefully. Finally,
he said, "Unhappy." I couldn't tell you why, but I started cracking up.
That just seemed like the funniest damn thing in the universe. I could
feel Howard and Hilde looking at me funny, and that made me laugh
even harder. It took some time, but I finally started to calm down.
I was sure I was certifiable at this point. "I'm sure 'unhappy'
doesn't even begin to describe it Heero." He smirked. "Hn." "This is all well and good," Howard interrupted,
his tone sarcastic, "but what the hell are you doing at my house?
I want you all to stay away from him!" "That is not wise at this time," Heero said
with a growl. Where Wufei and Sally had a cool demeanor when it came
to my uncle, Heero did not. He had no problem showing his dislike
for Howard, and my uncle was quick to stick his chin out at the werewolf.
Those two were so similar in attitude it was ridiculous. I gave them two weeks before they became best friends.
"This is a second offence." Heero's voice
brought me back from my mental wanderings. "The incident with
the head was unforgivable. This time..." He shook his head. "...I
don't know how to describe this." He looked at me. "Quatre
has brought me up to speed." He looked pointedly at my clothes,
then back at me. "Where are you going?" I flipped a mental coin. Tell him, not tell him...tell
him. "I want to find some information on 'hydrogen cyanide' and
its uses." He nodded. Good. Apparently Quatre really did bring
him up to speed. "And if Darlian is conscious I want to talk
to him." "Not possible," he told me curtly. "The
police, as well as Wufei, are certain someone within our household
has done this to him. We are not allowed to visit." "But I bet we can," Howard said. Heero's eyes flickered as he considered this. "Then
we should split up." "Yes," I interjected before Howard could start
beating on his chest and demanding otherwise. "Howard and I can
hit the hospital. Hilde and Heero can do the research--" "No," Heero broke in. "It would be better
if a...female, questioned him." Hilde looked to him, me, then him again. "Excuse
me?" "Hunters," I whispered, and a smile broke
over my face. "You're right." I turned to Hilde. "I'll
explain it to you later Hil, but he'll answer your questions because
he'll be afraid of you." She looked herself over, purposely, to point out her
small stature. "He'll be afraid of me?" I nodded. "Yes. Trust me." "Howard should go with her," Heero said. "Duo, you're badly bruised. You would be drawing too much attention to yourself." He shrugged apologetically. "Also, you have an idea of what you're looking for and what you want to do once we finish with that. Your uncle won't. So you and I should do the research." He gave Howard a bored look. Howard looked at me, saw that I agreed, then threw his
hands in the air. "Whatever Duo. But if you lose an appendage, it's
your own damn fault." "I know," I said, feeling excited to finally
be doing something. Hot dog! "Anything we need to clear up now?"
"One more thing," Heero said. Snapping his
fingers, Quatre's Toyota came popping out of some dense bushes and
onto the gravel road. It stopped right before it entered Howard's
yard, bumping into the metal pole that held the mailboxes. Howard
and I flinched. That was no way to treat such a gorgeous car. I recognized
Abdul's grinning face as he waved at me from behind the steering wheel,
and I waved back, chuckling to myself. Another man was in the passenger
seat, snoring. I could hear him from the front porch. Dear god, this
was going to be an interesting day. "Take the MRS," Heero told Howard and Hilde.
"Two Maguanacs will accompany you to ensure your safety."
He met my eyes head-on. "I will ensure yours." He had something important to tell me. "I agree.
Anything else?" "No." "Alright," I said, and clapped my hands together.
"Let's get this show on the road!" "I'm driving!" Hilde announced, and flew down
the stairs so fast she created a whirlwind. Howard followed at a more
sedate pace, making sure to accidently--on--purpose bump his shoulder
into Heero's. Heero only smirked, and waggled his eyebrows suggestively
at Howard. Howard snorted and kept walking, but I could see the slight
upturn of his lips. At Hilde's announcement, Abdul had jumped into the back
seat and bounced excitedly. My sister slid into the driver's seat,
and squealed happily at the different...whatever she was touching.
Howard climbed in next to Abdul and buckled himself in. The Maguanac
in the passenger seat slept on. "Be careful!" I shouted as Hilde shot onto
the road, the sports car zig-zagging before she gained control of
it. I thought I heard her triumphant shout with Abdul's, and Howard's
cry of 'Jesus Christ!' Laughing softly to myself, I clamored down the steps
to Heero. He started to walk to the left, and I could see just out
of sight, his car. It was a white DeTomaso. I couldn't tell what type
or year. "I'm driving." I held my hands up. "Whatever you say dude."
We got in. Heero took off, but he did so in a more controlled
manner than my sister managed. Once on the road, we were going at
a comfortable sixty-five miles an hour, with the windows rolled halfway
down. I laid my head back and was going to follow that other Maguanac's
example, when this whole thing dawned on me. "Hey, why did you
come here?" He shifted gears. "I came to talk to you about
yesterday." My eyes were closed, but I raised an eyebrow. "What
about yesterday?" He exhaled a deep breath. "You upset Quatre. He
really likes you." His voice held no emotion. He was completely
nonjudgmental. I thought about that. "Well, I was upset."
"No reason to take it out on him." Voice neutral.
Factual. "Whatever you saw in your vision...you shouldn't have
exploded the way you did." This time I sat up and turned to him, ready to fight
fire with fire. "What do you know about it? Huh? I saw and felt
that man's death, okay? Excuse me if I feel that it's ya'lls fault
because you couldn't control one of your own!" Heero was still calm. "No leader has complete control
over their subjects Maxwell. Wufei can't control every doing of his
wolves, just like the police can't make everyone wear a seatbelt.
Only so much can be done." He was right, and this argument wasn't going to accomplish
anything. So I changed the subject. "How is it that none of you
can find a scent?" "We don't know," he said, a slight tinge of
frustration in his voice. "But that's where we're really going
to need you." When they said that flattery will get you nowhere, they
were wrong. I puffed up like a damn peacock. "What is it that
you need to tell me?" He smirked. "I knew you'd figure it out."
The smirk went away. "Darlian is alive and in the hospital. His
mate is nowhere to be found." I gasped. "What?" "She is the police's prime suspect," he continued.
"And she's our prime suspect too. Her scent was all over Darlian's
body." I nodded. "But was her scent in my house? Or around
it?" "No, it wasn't." He shrugged. "But we
do know her scent stopped outside the gate of the pet cemetery. It
vanished from there." I felt something cold land in the pit of my stomach.
This did not feel right. "Something's not adding up." Heero agreed. "I know. We could use the computer
at your house to look up some things." "No no, I don't have a computer," I said absently,
chewing on a fingernail as I thought. "You don't?" He sounded as if I asked what
a bathtub was for. "No, sure don't." "Hmm...we'll have to go to my job then, but I called
in sick today. So I don't know how I'm going to pull that off."
"Well, if we're heading into town anyway, let's
go to a library. They have public computers." He snorted. "Duh." *** "Damnit, I could give a shit what the melting point
is!" I nearly shrieked at the computer screen. A few people turned
my way, but a severe glare from Heero sent them back to minding their
own business. So far, we didn't find anything on hydrogen cyanide
that could link together why someone would pour it over three dead
men. "This is starting to piss me off." "That's what you said half an hour ago," Heero
said, completely nonplused. He had the patience of a marble statue. Guess being
an old werewolf did that to you. Speaking of old... "Hey Heero,
how old are you?" He was looking at something on another computer. "I
was made in the year the Fujiwara clan controlled Japan."[3]
"Oh wow, that was--what?!" This time my exclamation
was met with a few angry ‘shhh's.' I glared, which wasn't nearly
as effective as when Heero did it, and tried to use my inside voice.
"You were ‘made'?" He gave me a shocked look. He was so caught up in what
we were looking for that he answered absently. "Yes," he
said after a while. "I was made Were, not born." Wow! "I would've never guessed. You in wolf form
is not something I'd mess with." He smiled. "Thanks." "No problem." I shook my head and tried to
focus on what I was doing. I couldn't. "Is that why you're Special?"
I blurted out. He gave me another shocked look but didn't hesitate
to answer. "Yes, that's what being Special means. I was chosen
by the Packmaster to take his place should he die." "Shit. Talk about your ‘destiny.' " Then
an idea curled from my head, and I couldn't help but put it out there.
Darlian's mate was missing, so I was going to treat everyone as a
suspect until I knew that they weren't. Heero was going to be the
first I interrogated. "God, you've been waiting to be Packmaster
for a long time. You could be waiting millennia more." Okay,
the hook's been baited! Could Heero be doing this to become Packmaster?
"I hope it never happens," he said, and looked
me dead in the eye. "I don't ever want that position. I'd rather
be at his side than in his place." I could feel the sincerity rolling off of him. He worshipped
Wufei with an intensity that was unquestionable. Nope, it wasn't Heero.
"I understand." He hesitated, then turned back to his own computer terminal.
I turned back to mine and we worked in silence for a long time. Finally,
he broke it. "I understand too, what you're going through Maxwell."
He kept his eyes on the computer monitor. "I remember what it
was like being human, and first learning about all...this." He
ducked his head a little. I found the gesture sweet. "It's confusing,
and so much to absorb that you feel like your head will explode."
"Yes," I agreed. He was so right about that.
He frowned. "I hated that feeling. I'm sure you
do too. It keeps you off-balance." I nodded in agreement to that
too. "It was hard to talk to someone because no one understood
what I was going through. Human values are so different from a werewolf's
that I had a hard time reconciling the two. I don't want you to go
through that. So...if you ever want to talk, or need to, find me and
we'll talk." I smiled, and reached out to place my hand on his shoulder.
I hoped he wouldn't decide to eat it. "Thanks. I will on one
condition." I squeezed his shoulder. "You have to call me
Duo, okay?" He smiled beautifully. "Okay...Duo." "Good." I patted him on the shoulder and we
got back to work. I felt...rejuvenated after that. I felt as if a bond
had been formed between myself and Heero, and I think he felt the
same way too. Here was someone that could understand exactly what
I was going through, firsthand, and I was someone he could relate
to. "Hn." I leaned over. "What?" "Nothing important, just interesting," he
said, pointing at something on the screen. "Listen to this: ‘Hydrogen
cyanide forms a foul tasting compound when it combines with tobacco
smoke. For this reason, some chemists choose to have a lit cigarette
in their mouth while working with it, as they receive an early warning
against possible cyanide poisoning.' "[4] "Cool," I said, smirking to myself. "I
guess I need to become a more serious smoker." All of a sudden
I felt like I had an epiphany. We were close to something. "Hold
on Heero." He sat quietly while my mind ran through some hoops.
I nodded to myself when I was certain what to do. "Okay, go to
Google, and type in 'Hydrogen Cyanide' and 'respiratory.' " He did. We got a lot of hits. "Okay." I saw the website for toxic substances on top. "Wait,
click on that link." He did, and we waited for the page to load. Damn slow
ass computer. "What are you thinking Duo?" I was ready to smack the monitor. "Yesterday when
Quatre and I were looking for clues, I smelled someone barbequing,
but he didn't." Heero raised an eyebrow. I threw my hands in
the air. "Exactly! I'm thinking that this shit is why you all
can't find a scent! Humans can smell that almond odor, sure. But we
don't have your sensitive sense of smell. Something this potent will
affect our sense of smell eventually, but a dog or a werewolf,"
I emphasized, "will probably be affected immediately!" The
page had loaded. I skimmed the article, pointed to the sentence on
screen that validated my point, and read it out loud. "Exposure
causes olfactory fatigue!" I jumped up and smacked myself on
the ass. Yes! "Who's hot shit?! I'm hot shit!" I twirled
where I stood, and began my 'I'm Hot Shit' song and dance. I ignored
the looks thrown my way. They were just jealous. Heero snorted as his cell phone began to ring. Answering
it and saying something curtly in Japanese (I guess), he closed the
phone with an audible snap as his intense eyes found mine. "That was Quatre," he said without preamble.
"They found a part of Mrs. Darlian's body. You need to touch
it, if at all possible." I stopped my song and dance. I thought about a mutilated,
skinless, decapitated body, and felt myself turn green. But Heero
made it sound like they found something small. "What did they
find, her hand?" "Nope," he said, slipping off the stool. "Her finger?" I squeaked, following behind
him. "Oh no," he said, gesturing me ahead of him. "They only found her eye." ~ * ~
[1] My roommate used to wake me up every morning by
jumping on my bed. I didn't like it. She didn't care. >.<
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