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"Honor Betrayed"Written By: Yanagi Disclaimer: I do not own or hold any rights to
[Gundam Wing]. Those rights belong to Bandai, Sunrise, and the Sotsu
Agency. These fan fictions were written for fun, not profit. However,
this story does belong to me. Please don’t snitch it. Warnings: the usual Pairings: 1x2 But it's Wufei centric [very] Beta note: I think the days in the trip to Shanghai
are messed up. They fly east so they'd arrive in late
afternoon/early evening and Yet another note: There are a lot of FAQ at the
end of the epilogue.
"Honor Betrayed " Chapter 12 Breakfast was quick and a bit messy. Duo had gotten a call while he was scrambling eggs, Heero's phone went off less than a minute later. They'd left ten minutes after that, carrying bacon, egg and cheese on toast sandwiches in one hand, war bags in the other. Wufei had cleaned up the kitchen as he ate his own, cleaning a bit then eating a bit until both the work and the sandwiches were done. He counted days and realized that they'd gotten to Shanghai late Wednesday afternoon and left Thursday afternoon. It was now Friday and he still had Saturday and Sunday off. He couldn't help the gleeful grin, this meant that he had three days to work on his first sword. Wufei dressed in his most ragged pair of jeans, regretted for a moment throwing away his old boots, and found a t-shirt that said, “I may be dumb, but you're ugly” tugged it on then rummaged to find his oldest pair of boots. Those, he found at the back of his huge closet, he laced them on and headed for the shop. He'd been in and out of it, working on the Yang collection but now he was going to begin work on his very first self made sword. He was making everything from the steel for the blade to the menuki. It would use every skill he had, from forging and casting to wood work and tsukimaki. He was looking so forward to it that he realized he was actually trembling. He started by heating the open hearth forge. He shoveled in several pounds of coal, lit it and pumped the bellows until it glowed a soft orange. He turned on the exhaust fan then he went to find his steel. He rummaged in the scrap until he found two solid bars of high carbon steel, several scraps of low carbon steel and a bar of the same. He returned to the trip hammer and laid the metal out on the bed. He arranged the bars and scraps so that he had a bar of low carbon steel, a bar of high, then arranged the scraps to cover for another layer and capped it with the last bar. He cold forged this with the trip hammer until they held together then he turned to the hearth. He heated the metal until it glowed two shades of orange then took it back to the hammer. He held the hot metal with a pair of tongs and dropped the hammer several times. He checked to make sure that the cold welds were converting properly then heated the metal again. He continued this process until the bar was about three feet long. He turned to the anvil and cut the bar into two pieces. He laid the pieces one on top of the other and continued the process until he had cut and welded the bar ten times. He sighed and wrapped the steel in a rag. He'd repeat the process ten more times tomorrow but he was tired now and should stop before he made a mistake and either ruined something or hurt himself. He banked his fire and put up his tools. He realized that he was starving so he went back to his home and took a shower. He wisely left his boots at the door between the shop and garage and his clothing came off and was stuffed into his inside out t-shirt. He walked to the elevator in nothing but his shorts. He heard voices but didn't think much of it as one was Heero's mellow tenor. He walked right in on Heero and Lady Une. Contrary to popular belief he wasn't that body shy, but he hated being stared at. Lady Une looked at him for a split second. He said, “Excuse me.” and went into his room to take a shower and get dressed. Lady Une waited until he was gone to give Heero a sharp look and ask, “He's not applying the cream. Why not?” Heero looked blank. “What cream?” Une smirked a bit. “He got some cream from that doctor across the street from the dojo. I had it checked out. It should work quite well. As long as he puts it on.” Heero nodded. “I think he's a bit hesitant to bother us about things. I'll make sure that Duo knows about it too.” He smirked back at her then returned to the file they'd been going over. It was unusual, but not unknown of, for Une to come to an agents home. In this case, she wanted a look at Wufei's home. She did not want him living in some filthy, rat infested hell hole. This was definitely not that. She admired the dinning room table and the industrial kitchen. She'd also unashamedly stopped the elevator at every floor and peered around. Heero wasn't a fool and knew exactly what she'd been doing. He'd made no objection but he'd frowned at her when she'd opened a drawer, she'd carefully closed it without touching anything, well aware that she'd just gotten a waring that she was going too far. They finished the review and Une was just getting ready to leave when Wufei returned to the room. He was shirtless still but wearing a pair of clean chinos, his wet hair dripping down his back. “You leaving? Would you like some tea?” Wufei nodded to the tea set on the counter. “Do you approve?” Une didn't bother to ask what she was approving of, she just nodded and replied, “It's very nice. I'm impressed. And, no, I don't believe I'd like tea. I'll just be going. And, Chang?” Wufei raised an eyebrow at her. “Have someone put that cream on you. Good-day.” Wufei just shrugged and returned to his bathroom to retrieve the cream and wrap his dripping hair in a towel. He handed the jar to Heero then turned a chair around so he could sit straddle of the seat. Heero calmly began to smear the cream on every scar he could see. “I doubt it will do much good. Granny medicine.” Heero sniffed carefully then rubbed a bit between his fingers. “Well, might be but both vitamin E and coco butter have been proven to help with scaring and some herbs do as well. It certainly can't hurt.” Wufei shivered slightly but forced himself to remain still until Heero was done. “There. All done. And I'll have water on the boil in a couple of minutes.” Heero capped the jar, but instead of giving it back to Wufei he put it on the counter, back against the wall with the vitamins. “And that stays there. Duo will put it on if I'm not around.” Wufei opened his mouth to say that it wasn't necessary but Heero glowered at him so hard he shut it again. Instead he pulled the towel off his head and started dragging a comb through his hair. “Chang, that's no way to go about it, you'll break it off. Split ends will make it frizzy and hard to keep in a braid.” Wufei turned unbelieving eyes to Heero who just demanded, “What? Duo has enough hair for four, so, I learned stuff. Give me that comb.” He eyed the close set teeth with disfavor. “Never mind. I'll use Duo's, he won't mind. And ...” Heero fingered Wufei's hair for a moment. “I'll bring the spray on conditioner too.” Wufei just dropped his forehead to his arms which were crossed on the back of the chair. He was feeling a bit strange. He wondered what Duo would think of Heero making free of his comb and conditioner. Just then the elevator rattled. Wufei heard Duo's distinctive voice raised in curses. Heero poked his head out of the bedroom then hurried to the elevator. Wufei followed right behind him Duo exited the elevator swearing like a – well, a gundam pilot. Heero snatched him into his arms. “What is it? What's wrong? Where are you hurt?” Duo just relaxed, well aware that Heero would only listen when he was sure that Duo wasn't hurt. “Easy, Heero, I'm not hurt. Um ... much. I mashed my thumb in the inner gate. We need to put a safety on it. And I'm pissed anyway. Someone in IT tried to work on my desk top at work. Your safety system ate my hard drive. I backed it up on a thumb drive but I left it here. So ... I'm not a happy camper. I need a drink.” Wufei just started mixing. Duo liked a very old fashioned drink called a Screwdriver. Why? Wufei couldn't say. But he did, so Wufei mixed him one. He glanced at Heero who nodded so Wufei mixed a rum and coke. He also made a simple scotch-soda for himself. He had to smiled slightly. The war had sparked a resurgence of very old drinks, some dating back to WWII in the 1930's. They settled in the small sitting area that they had all come to think of as the 'private' lounge. Duo spent twenty minutes raging against techs that couldn't remember simple things, like, “Do not touch my computer.” Heero nodded at that but said, “I'll fix it when I come in tomorrow.” Duo just sighed and finished his drink. He stood up and grumbled, “Well, at least I believe in double backups. I ran one yesterday and put it all on my jump drive. It's on the desk in our room.” They sat for a while longer, silent and content then Duo leaned against Heero's side and asked, “Well, 'Fei, what have you decided about that sword? I know you told Quatre to send it to the museum but for how long?” “Nosy butt.” But Wufei's accusation lacked heat. “I'm planning to put it on permanent loan. I don't feel right about giving it away, but it should be somewhere where everyone can see it. And speaking of swords. I've started my mastery sword.” Duo looked a little blank. “What? Mastery sword? What's that?” “It's the first sword that a smith makes completely by himself, or herself. Sometimes it's the only one the smith ever makes. Most smiths send their blades out to be finished by a series of other master craftsmen. One makes the saya and the ho. Still another does the tsukamaki. And so on, until the sword is complete. I intend to make all my swords from blade to completed sword, including making the tsuba, fuchi, habaki, seppa and menuki. It's going to take me ... probably two years all told. I'll work on other projects as well as this, of course. But this is my tour de force. My first show piece. I find that I'm excited at the prospect.” Heero smiled at Wufei, this excitement had to be good for him. “If you need help of any kind, please feel free to call on me.” Duo nodded. “Yeah, me too. Not that I know a lot about it but I can be dumb muscle.” “Thank you both. I'll keep that in mind.” He stood up and picked up his empty glass, he held out his hand for their glasses as well. “Why don't we eat out tonight?” “Sounds good. Heero?” Duo turned to look at his friend and life partner. Heero just stood up too. “I'm in. I'll go change.” Heero looked as grubby as Wufei had earlier. “And you still need to do something with that hair. Duo?” Duo just picked up the comb and spray that had been tossed onto the coffee table. “I'll need to change too but we both need to do something with our hair. I'll deal with Wufei's and then he can return the favor. Don't hurry with dressing. I need to change too.” Heero went into the bedroom and Duo had Wufei stand in front of him while he sat in one of the dinning table chairs. He sprayed the detangler on and combed it through starting at the ends. As he combed he lectured Wufei gently on how to care for his hair. “You can't just yank a comb through it. You'll break the shaft of the hair. That makes it all different lengths and leads to flyaways. It also makes it tangle worse which leads to more yanking and so on. And split ends are just more trouble. Use good shampoo and always condition. Use this spray. It gets out tangles and protects your hair.” He snapped an elastic around the end of Wufei's braid then tugged it gently. “There. Now, you do me.” Wufei said dryly, “I think not. Yuy wouldn't appreciate that at all.” Duo gave Wufei a puzzled look then cracked up. “Idiot, I meant my hair.” Wufei just snickered and exchanged places with Duo. Duo sat still, but kept up a running commentary as Wufei sprayed his hair and brushed it out. He managed an acceptable braid then remarked, “It looks nice, why can't I braid my own hair that well?” Duo shrugged. “You have to be doing something simple wrong. When we get back I'll see what you're doing and try to figure out what you're doing wrong. Now, I better go change. Back in a sec.” Wufei went to get a different shirt and met them back by the elevator. They discussed where they wanted to go on the way down. Duo was all for pizza but Heero claimed to be pizza-ed out. Wufei glanced from one side to the other then pointed. “There. Two blocks down. They just opened a new Italian place, La Gondolier or something. Want to try?” Heero agreed that Italian sounded good, as long as it wasn't pizza. Duo announced that he was going to get a personal pan, at which both Heero and Wufei made loud gagging noises. Duo cast Heero a brilliant smile over Wufei's head. “Well, I like that. I don't make rude noises over what you eat.” He crossed his arms over his chest but continued to walk toward the restaurant. Heero muttered, “Sushi.” While Wufei said, “Herbal tea.” Duo caved, saying, “Ok, ok. Pax.” They took their time walking slowly and window shopping at the few stores between their place and the restaurant. Wufei remarked that there was a surprising resurgence of businesses in the neighborhood, for which he was glad. Duo nodded. He agreed with that and said, “It's really good. It shows that the economy is recovering nicely. I bet, in ... oh, two years time, this whole area is residential.” Wufei gulped. “That's good ... but what about my smithy? I don't want to move. I like it here. But I also don't want my smithy miles away from home.” Heero shrugged, then commented, “It'll be grandfathered. You were here first. As long as it isn't obnoxious.” Duo snickered, “How can a smithy be obnoxious?” Wufei sighed, then enumerated, “Noise late at night, noxious vapors, bad smells, too much heavy traffic. That sort of thing. I'm most worried about the actual forge.” Duo nodded but Heero looked puzzled. “The whole complex is called a forge but the actual forge is just a big fire box. It uses either coal or charcoal. Coal stinks but charcoal makes a real mess. That's what I'm really worried about. In a residential area, it could cause me to be shut down. The noise wouldn't be much of a problem as I can insulate against it.” Duo opened the door of La Gondolier and held it for Heero and Wufei, he scrunched his nose in thought as he followed them in. They were immediately shown to a table and handed menus. Duo glanced at the menu then exclaimed, “Scrubbers! That'd work. I could rig up something.” Heero gave Duo a totally blank look. “What are you talking about?” But Wufei caught on at once. “My smithy. Industrial scrubbers. No smells, no soot or dust. Duo, that's brilliant. Thanks.” Duo smirked at Heero but turned to Wufei. “I wasn't thinking about industrial scrubbers but colonial ones. They'll take out anything. And I know where I can get two, cheap. They're also quieter.” The conversation was interrupted by the waitress coming to take their order. True to his earlier comments, Duo ordered pizza, goat cheese and artichoke hearts with anchovies. Wufei made more gagging sounds, discretely but the waitress noticed and smiled at him. Heero ordered Pasta Puttanesca, salad and garlic bread. Wufei decided on Shrimp Scampi, salad, and garlic bread also. They ordered a bottle of the house rose for the table and settled back to discuss ways to install the scrubbers and insulation. The food came and they ate as the conversation continued. Duo decided that, after a complete description of the size and heat of the fires Wufei usually used that only one scrubber was needed then cheerfully remarked that the roof would need substantial reenforcement to hold the weight. Wufei shrugged and asked why they couldn't put it behind the shop instead of on the roof. Duo pulled a small note book out of his hip pocket and scribbled mathematical formulae for a moment. He looked up and announced that they could do that more easily than reenforcing the roof, cheaper too. Wufei frowned for a moment then said, “And it'll look a lot better. I can't imagine the neighbors enjoying the sight of one of those monstrosities. I know I wouldn't.” Heero gently took the notebook out of Duo's hand, tucked it into a pocket and said, “Eat, your food will get cold.” Duo gave Heero a sheepish look and turned to his pizza. It was still very hot so he picked up another piece and took a bite. “Mmmm, goooood. You should have ordered it instead of ... that.” Heero just defiantly waved a forkful of 'that' at Duo then popped it into his mouth. Wufei just shook his head at their shenanigans and quietly ate his pasta. They finished eating and Heero and Wufei argued over the bill. Duo quietly walked up to the register to pay it while they followed after still debating who should pay it. The checker just grinned at Duo's exasperated expression and said, “You paying?” “Looks like it. They'll argue until the cow's come home and never get anywhere.” They shared a laugh over this which brought Heero and Wufei back to the present. Wufei made a grab for the bill which Duo fended off with a hip butt. Heero snickered slightly and got twin glares. They were interrupted by a loud bang. Two men rushed in waving knives and demanding the money from the register. Duo gave them a disgusted look and snapped, “Put the knives down!” Heero and Wufei moved to flank him. As first contact, he was in charge of the conflict. That was just the way it was. Duo just looked at the two for a moment. They were both young, poor and ratty looking. He decided to take it easy on them. “Heero, left; me, right. 'Fei, back up.” The checker, meanwhile, had ducked down behind the counter and, while the two robbers were distracted, called the police. Then the magic happened. One man jabbed at Duo, Duo stepped to one side, allowing the knife to pass between his body and his arm. Then he clamped down with his arm, trapping the boy's arm between his and his ribs. He turned, using that arm to drag the boy closer and jabbed him in the solar plexus. He fell to the floor, wheezing. Duo just put a foot on his throat. Wufei stepped in, snatched the knife from his hand and backed out again. While Duo was handling his opponent, Heero was dealing with his. In this case it was very simple. Heero struck like a snake, grabbing the wrist of his man and twisting outward. The robber squealed, dropped the knife and went to his knees. Wufei stepped in and scooped up the knife and returned to his place. This whole process took about five seconds. When the police arrived, Wufei was standing by the register counter, the two knives in plain sight on the glass top. Duo was talking to the owner and Heero was standing guard over the two prisoners. “Ok, who's primary here.” The officer didn't even bother to ask what was going on, he already knew, thanks to the call from the checker. Duo showed his credentials and said, “I guess I am. Maxwell ...” He pointed to Heero. “Yuy. And this is Chang Wufei.” He gestured to Wufei who bowed slightly. “Yeah, yeah, I recognize him. He teaches my brother. Pleased to meet you.” Wufei bowed then pointed to the knives. “I'm afraid I've gotten my prints all over them. But the situation warranted it.” “Don't worry. There's enough eye witness evidence as to who did what. Now, Special Agent Maxwell, I need to take a statement from you. My partner will deal with the lady then I'll take Chang-sefu's statement while my partner deals with Special Agent Yuy. Why don't we see if there isn't a back room we can use?” Duo agree with this and a third officer, who'd just arrived, made arrangements with the manager, who was delighted to let them use the banquet room. Just before they got started a supervisor arrived along with the paddy-wagon and took over, to the onsite officer's obvious annoyance. But, with the supervisor and the third officer, all the interviews were done by the time Duo finished his second cup of coffee. The officers wound up their interviews, thanked them for being such good citizens and left. The owner was waiting for them. “I want to thank you so very much for helping. They could have hurt my daughter. I don't care about the money but people like that just like to cut someone. Horrible. I'm going to send her home. My wife will take over and my son will see that Mari gets home.” Wufei smiled, Duo just grinned and Heero looked blank. Wufei deferred to Duo to 'do the pretty' so he said, “That's ok. This is one of the reasons we became Preventers, to protect people. I'm just glad we could help. Now, we never got to pay...” “Oh, no! Your money's no good here. And I'm giving you all three vouchers for free dinners. And no arguments. If the no-goods around here find out that you eat here, they'll be less likely to try to rob me again. So, shush.” Wufei bowed and thanked the man. Heero started to say something but Duo poked him in the ribs and said, “Ok, thanks. And do remember that we're really not supposed to accept gratuities. But ... in this case, I'll make an exception. The food's too good to pass up. But ... it's getting late and we better leave.” They said their good-bye's and left. The walk back was quiet but in a companionable sort of way. . Time passed and Wufei found that he was doing well in therapy and even acknowledged that he'd been wrong to even participate in the Marimaia Incident as it was being called. He had to have several talks about honor before he started to realize that he hadn't betrayed himself. He'd made a mistake of major proportions but, as he'd followed what he thought was an honorable path, his honor was intact. No matter what anyone else might say. He felt that he was well on his way to what his old masters would have called a state of equilibrium. It felt good. His classes were going well, he'd added the second class of beginners. They were all between the ages of 12 and 16 which made for a balanced class. The first class was going quite well. His class of senior students had all taken to him quickly, he'd only had to do one demonstration. He'd included all his Preventer students in the demonstration then paired a Preventer with a senior student for a workout that had become a monthly event. All in all he was very satisfied with his classes. The incident in the restaurant had resulted in more patrols in the neighborhood. It had also been the spark for a neighborhood watch that was effective. It was coordinated by Mr. Rosetti, the owner of La Gondolier. He had invited all three of them to join but neither Heero nor Duo could, due to their responsibilities as Preventers and Wufei had classes three nights a week now and didn't feel that it was fair to only be available on such a limited basis. And, quite frankly, he didn't want to take the time from his smithy. He wanted to get his Mastery sword done and present it. As he had remarked to Duo, “So, I'm a bit vain. Sue me.” He'd finished the blade but it didn't suit him so he'd made another. This one had turned out as perfect as he could have wished. He'd used Duo and Heero as strikers and made it the 2500 year old way. He was very pleased with it but did feel that spring steel was better for a combat sword. The Thousand Layer steel was more traditional but not as strong as myth made it out to be. But, since this was a mastery sword, he had stuck as close to tradition as his skills allowed. As this included forging the blade, casting everything else metal on the sword; carving the handle, or tsuka, and the saya and doing the tsukimaki it was going to take quite a bit of time. Especially as he felt that he had to be in the proper frame of mind to work on it. He also had several other projects to work on. Duo wanted a black tanto as he'd broken his best one in someone's thigh and Heero wanted a good workout sword, one that was up to tameshigiri. So he had several projects on hand and it felt good. Wufei looked up from his thoughts as the elevator rattled. Someone was coming up. He glanced at his watch and realized that he'd been in a blue study for quite a while. Heero came out of the elevator covered in muck and slime. He looked disgusted and started stripping off on the mat by the elevator that was for exactly that purpose. The elevator had turned out to be much too drafty for such activities and the garage was even worse. Wufei had actually gotten a chill after undressing there and coming up covered in sweat. Duo had bought the mat the next day and forbade anyone from undressing before they were inside what he called top quarters. “What the hell happened to you? You look like you've been rolling in a swamp.” Wufei just held out a hand for Heero's clothing. He handed it over readily enough and went into his room to shower and put on something clean. Wufei looked at the things in his hand and then sniffed, they smelled of sewage so he decided to put them in the washer right away. He was sure there was enough laundry to make a load but he wasn't sure he wanted any of his things in the same wash as this stuff. He decided to just wash it all by itself. He dumped the whole mess into the washer, added soap and a booster powder then laughed softly, three years ago he wouldn't even have known what a booster was, unless it was a rocket. He started the washer on hot, not worrying about running Heero out of hot water. The plumbing was industrial and the hot water heater was still the old 200 gal heater that had been installed when the building had been built. Duo had nearly laughed himself silly when he'd seen it. They'd gone down to the basement because the heater they'd been using was inadequate to the job and they'd been looking for a place to put a bigger one. They'd found the huge, old heater squatting in a corner, unhooked and silent. Duo had checked it over and announced that it needed two parts, for which a search had yielded the information that they couldn't be found. Duo had used Wufei's equipment, with the addition of a lathe, to make new one's and they were in business for 40€, instead of 400. Then Duo had run a cold water line into the shop and made Wufei a happy man. He hated hauling buckets of water to the quenching tank. He'd wondered where the original owner had gotten his, until they'd found several barrels of scorched oil. Wufei had turned up his nose and called a has-mat team. Heero came in, hair dripping onto the towel over his shoulders. “What's up? You look ... distracted.” “I think I am a little. I seem to be in a contemplative mood today. I was just thinking about ... my shop, the hot water heater, my classes. All sorts of things. My mind has really gone wool gathering. I think ... I think I like it.” Heero rubbed his head with the towel. “That's good. Be sure to tell Dr. Havram. It's a good idea to keep him up to date on any outside break through you have. And this is definitely one. You're not brooding on past mistakes and insults. Look back at the good things and let the bad slide.” Wufei nodded gravely. “Excellent advice, my friend.” Heero ambled out into the small lounge area, small in comparison to the common room at least. It was where they sat while waiting for Wufei's cooking to be done. The larger, third floor room was a combined game room, reading room, office and guest dinning room. They'd never had more than six other people for a meal but had found that it was easy to deal with getting food and table settings up and down due to the size of the elevator. Wufei went into the kitchen and filled the kettle. “Tea?” “Oh. Please. I'm still smelling that sewage. It's all in my head, rather than my nose. But maybe the smell of the tea will clear it out.” “Well, then, how about that white jasmine tea?” “Yes, that really will help.” They settled to wait until the water was hot and Heero told Wufei all about his misadventure in the sewer. It seemed that someone had stabbed one of Sanq's high rollers and tossed the weapon into the sewers. Heero and his squad had been detailed to find it. Unfortunately for Heero, the tunnel he'd been walking through had a collection tank in it, one he hadn't seen for the deep water and fallen right into. He'd been hip deep in sewage for ten minutes before anyone could respond. He ended up with, “And the first person that says anything about me being in deep shit is a dead man.” Wufei cracked up and nearly fell off the couch he laughed so hard. Heero just eyed him with a disgusted expression then got up to make their tea. Duo came in shortly after they finished their first pot and made Wufei's day by demanding to know why they hadn't left him any. Wufei mildly informed him that they could get three pots off the same leaves and Duo happily waited for his fresh cup. Wufei settled back and sighed. Duo gave him a concerned look. “You ok? What was that big sigh about?” “I'm fine, I'm happy. Things are good. I have a good job, one that I love. I have a ... a calling. Something. My smithing makes me happy. And I have two good friends to live with me and students to care for. I've finally realized that I did not betray my honor, I was betrayed by others. So, all in all, I have to say that life is very good. More tea?” Duo grinned fit to split his face. Heero grunted softly and offered his cup without comment. They sat drinking tea and talking of this and that for the rest of the afternoon. . Lady Une sat down at her desk and buzzed her secretary, when the door opened she just motioned to the chair in front of her desk. “What do you think about the latest from Dr. Havram?” Janice nibbled at the end of her stylus for a moment. “I think we've lost him. Chang is never joining.” “I think you're right. But ... I feel that any attempt to intimidate or coerce him would result in disaster. Perhaps we could use him as a consultant?” Janice agreed with Une that any attempt to get Wufei to join against his wishes was not a good idea but also said, “He's very knowledgeable in martial arts and metallurgy, especially that of antique swords. We might use him in those fields. I'll keep him on the reserve books, just in case.” Three days later, Duo came into the dojo with two Preventers junior agents. He politely asked Yang Huiqing if he could speak to Wufei. She pointed and said that he was holding class in the small dojo and they could sneak in and watch if they were quiet. Duo told the two junior officers, who were his trainees, “Ok, be really quiet, if you disturb the class Chang will rip you a new one and I won't say a thing. Respect his class. We need a huge favor from him and you won't make any points by pissing him off first thing. Randolph, you're on.” Duo had already told both trainees that it was their responsibility to convince Chang to help them. He knew Wufei would, no matter what, but this was part of their training. Wufei dismissed his class, of Preventers, and stepped into the foyer to be accosted by Randolph. “Chang, you'll come with us. Now.” He reached out to grab Wufei by the arm and Duo just hid his face in one hand. Wufei, having no idea who this man was, stepped away. Another grab got Randolph in trouble. Wufei grabbed him by the wrist and doubled his hand back toward his forearm. He went down on one knee, yelping. This brought several students to see what the commotion was. Duo stepped in before things got out of hand. “Ok, ok, no harm; no foul. Randolph, get up, you're a disgrace. Anyone want to tell me what he did wrong?” All the students looked at Duo while Wufei just glared. Finally a younger woman said, “Well, first off, he didn't identify himself. Then he touched without reason. Good way to get your head busted. Maxwell?” Duo just nodded. She nodded back and turned toward the showers. “Anyone else?” An older man just snorted. “He was rude. Doesn't do to be rude to someone then ask for a favor. Idiot. Get the other guy to try.” And with that all the rest of the class headed off for showers or out the door. The second junior officer turned to Wufei. “Sorry about him. He's a bit too full of himself. See, we've got a real problem on our hands. That sword thing that we found is distinctive but no one really knows enough about that sort of thing to make any sense of it. So ... well, we were ... er ... Preventers that is. Was hoping that you'd come down to HQ and take a look at it and see if you can't tell us something. Anything at all. Please?” He gave Wufei such a hopeful look that Wufei had to chuckle. “Alright. I'll come take a look at it.” He turned to Duo. “And, Duo? The next time you turn one of your asshole trainees loose on me, I'll eat him, or her, alive. Got me?” Duo just grinned and nodded. “I'm surprised that you didn't knock that idiot's dick in the dirt for him. I was kind of hoping you would. Lesson learned without getting him broken. See?” He turned to Randolph and changed from a laughing, light hearted young man into Shinigami. “If you don't watch yourself, you're going to get killed. Chang is a good example of a ringer. He looked relatively small and helpless, but believe me he's just as dangerous as Heero or me. Don't get too full of yourself. Wufei?” Wufei just eyed the man for a moment. “This is time for two things my father told me a long time ago. No matter how big and bad you think you are, there's always someone out there bigger and badder. And ... Good manners save all sorts of fools.” Duo agreed with this then demanded, “Well, what about it. Will you come down and look at this thing?” “You've had all your experts look at it I assume? And they haven't come up with anything?” “No ... I mean yes, they've looked at it. But all they can tell us is, it's Japanese design, they've never seen an alloy exactly like this and a bunch of useless stuff about composition. They're not experts in Japanese/Oriental weapons and getting one here would take days. We don't have that kind of time. If you come down, there's other stuff we can tell you.” Wufei shrugged. “I'll take a shower and be right out.” Duo spent the waiting time lecturing Randolph about tact and manners. Jacobs, the other trainee, listened carefully to Duo's recommendations and took mental notes. He didn't intend to lose a good lead because he was rude to the wrong person Wufei came out dressed in a Chinese jacket, closed with red cord frogs and loose Chinese pants, gathered at the ankles, with soft black slippers on his feet. Duo blinked and Wufei gave him a pointed, not a word, look. “What's with the traditional stuff?” Duo ignored the look with a bland expression. “I forgot that I'm supposed to meet with some of the sponsors. I brought this as a sign of respect to them and it's all I have. I'll have to go talk to Yang-Shigung for a moment.” “Ok, go make your excuses. We'll be right here.” But Wufei didn't have to make excuses to the sponsors. Huiqing had already done that and came up to them to tell Wufei to go. The meeting would be rescheduled. He bowed, thanked her and motioned to Duo and his trainees to go ahead of him. Duo let the trainees go first, which both of them readily did. Wufei looked at him and raised an eye brow. Duo whispered, “Randolph is on his way out, but I think I can save Jacobs. They've both been brought in from a cop shop. Randolph just can't get it through his thick head that we don't operate like he's used to. Cops don't either, not any more. You ok?” Wufei just nodded and watched as Randolph and Jacobs danced in the doorway, trying to establish dominance. Jacobs finally just let Randolph go first, a disgusted expression aimed at the idiots back. When they got to the car Randolph started to get into the front seat but Duo stopped him. “If Wufei was a prisoner, we'd put him in back. Since he's a guest, requested by Lady Une herself, he gets front. You two sit in back.” Jacobs just got in on the drivers side while Randolph got in the passenger side. Duo just shook his head. . Wufei leaned against the door of the SUV and looked over Duo's shoulder at Jacobs. “What can you tell me about the weapon?” “Um ... not much. I haven't seen it so all I know I got from the report I read. I've got it in my ereader. Would you like to see it?” Wufei glanced at Duo who nodded his head, “Go on.” So Jacobs handed over his reader so Wufei could read the report. There were some pictures attached but they were very poor quality. Wufei shook his head. “You need someone who can chart the ... never mind. I'll do it myself when I see the blade. If it's necessary. If the blade is common, making a registry document would be a waste of time.” “Glad you know what you're talking about. I have no idea.” Duo kept his eyes on the road. Wufei shifted so he could see Duo's profile. “You remember that sketch I made of my sword blade? Well, I registered it with a registry of blades kept in Tokyo. It contains thousands of blades, you can actually search the data base and find out who owns it now and who's owned it since it was registered. Everyone will change the registry because if the chain is broken it halves the value of the blade. If this sword is registered, it'll be a clue.” Duo nodded. He pulled up in front of the HQ building and let Wufei and Jacobs out. Wufei still had his nose in the reader. Jacobs touched his elbow to get his attention. “We better go in. Agent Maxwell will come up from the garage and if we're not where he expects us to be, I'll hear about it. Loudly.” “Mmmm, Duo does have a good set of lungs on him. I remember ...” Wufei paused to laugh. “During one battle, he got so mad and yelled so loud that he ruptured a blood vessel in his throat. He couldn't talk for three days. Nearly killed him. He wrote notes, underlined, in bold, with exclamation marks and all sorts of things.” Wufei returned his attention to the reader after they got into the elevator. He knew better than to read while walking, he'd run into people while he was young and gotten a lecture from his father than had made his ears turn red. He leaned against the wall and read until he heard two other passengers talking. “And so, they're brining in some snot nosed expert. My ass. I don't see why we need him, Ploverton is good enough.” “Yes, and they say that the guy is some sort of war criminal too. I don't get it.” Wufei eyed them for a second then asked, “Don't you think that a man who has served his sentence and been freed should be given the benefit of the doubt? Perhaps he's reformed, or ... perhaps the winners decided that a loser should be punished just for being on the wrong side? Hummmm?” He returned to his reading while the two strangers eyed him sourly. The elevator stopped again and Jacobs said, “Our floor. Come on.” Jacobs led Wufei down a hall and into a laboratory, Duo was already there. He was breathing a bit heavily so he must have run to be there before them. Wufei raised an eyebrow but Duo just grinned and shrugged. A man in a lab coat hurried up apologizing for being late. The tag on a cord around his neck said, Dr. E Ploverton. Wufei held out his hand to shake, saying, “It's not important. I'm sure you're very busy. May I see the sword?” “Of course, come this way. It's not within my area of expertise. I'm an expert in sword wounds. Matching them to the sort of blade that made it. In this case, I can tell you with certainty that this blade made the wounds in question, but I have no idea about the blade.” Wufei followed the man into the small side room and was shown the blade. It was on a small steel table in the middle of the room. Wufei looked at it for a moment then started walking around the table. Dr Ploverton said, “You can pick it up if you like. It's been printed and x-rayed. We've run every test we can think of on it. Anything you can tell us, please.” Wufei picked up the sword and examined it. He poked it here and there then turned back to Dr. Ploverton. “May I see the x-rays? If there are any markings on the nakago they might tell us something.” “Marks on the what? I don't know that word.” Wufei bowed, “I beg your pardon, the nakago is the tang. Many makers put their hanko or some makers mark on it. It would be very helpful.” Dr. Ploverton walked to the back wall and turned on a box back lit with two lights. He picked up an envelop and took out two x-rays, he stuck them under clips and examined them. “Well, I don't see any marks but come take a look for yourself. You might be able to see something I don't.” Wufei came over, saying, “I doubt it. You might not be able to read it but surely you'd see it.” He carefully examined the x-rays and finally pointed. “There. Faint but definitely there. But I can't read it.” Une, who was standing unnoticed in the doorway, said, “Well, take it apart. And someone bring some luminal. We'll test for blood while we're at it.” Wufei bowed to Une and reached out to pick up the sword. He drew it out of the saya and frowned. “It's been put away uncleaned. And the tsukamaki is soaked in ... stinks. Sewage?” “Yes, it was dropped down a storm drain and washed into the sewers. We're lucky we found it at all. If we can connect that sword to someone, it's a clue to who the murderer is.” “Hmmm.” Wufei poked at the tsukamaki for a moment. “Unless there's an objection I'm going to take this apart. I'll need a couple of tools.” Une nodded to a tech standing nearby. He moved forward and asked what kind of tools. Wufei examined the tsuka for a moment. “A punch of some sort and a small mallet. I might not need a mallet but better to have it than have to send him back.” The tech thought for a moment then asked, “How big. I've got a little one that came with some sort of tool set. I never used it and I've got a punch I use for knocking slugs out of computer parts. Will that do? Otherwise, I'm going to have to go to the armory and borrow something from one of the gun smiths.” “That'll do fine. Lady? Is it acceptable for me to disassemble the tsuka?” Une thought for a moment. “Well, since I'm not sure what you're talking about a bit more explanation would help.” “The cord around the handle. If I take it off, I can see if there are any makers marks there. If the sword was made by several people, each one would have left their mark. It's also the only way I can tell if it was mass produced or not.” Une looked at Dr. Ploverton. He shrugged, “As long as you don't have to cut it, I think it'll be ok.” Wufei carefully pulled the kashiri off and started unraveling the cord. He immediately noticed that it was only what was called a half wrap. The ray skin wrapping wasn't an actual wrap, there was only enough of the expensive leather to show through the holes in the decorative wrap. This cord was also used to ensure a good grip on the tsuka. In this case it failed its job due to the sloppy job. Wufei wrinkled his nose at the smell. “I think I'll wait until the tech gets back and I can take this apart. The smell is ... bad.” Dr. Ploverton handed Wufei a pair of latex gloves, not to protect the evidence but to protect his hands. “Oh, thank you.” He pulled the gloves on and picked up the sword again. This time he chose to examine the blade. He turned it against the light and examined the edge. Then he angled the blade to check the hamon. He shook his head. “This sword is badly damaged. The edge is wired as it's been filed to sharpen it. It's obviously been in the hands of a westerner who knows just enough about swords to get himself into trouble.” Dr. Ploverton, Lady Une and the entire CSI crew in the room looked blank. Wufei sighed and started lecturing. “The kisaki has been broken so whoever owned this at the time had the boshi redone, see? The shinogi is off, they didn't readjust it. There's no seppa between the tsuba and the tsuka and the habiki is folded instead of cast.” He looked around and said, “None of you have the slightest idea what I'm talking about, do you?” Everyone there shook their heads. “Alright, I'll try again. The kisaki is the very point of the sword, it's been broken off. Probably by a mistroke during a tameshigiri, a cutting exercise. So the boshi or curve of the last four or five inches of the front end was reground and very badly. The shinogi, or grind ridge is improperly formed. And there are no little round shims between the tsuka, or grip and the tsuba, this round thing that is called a guard but isn't. It won't protect your hand from a cut. It's only meant to keep you from sliding your hand onto the blade. This little brass, or in this case copper, thing between the blade and the tsuba, the habiki, is folded and welded. It's a second class piece, as they're usually cast to fit exactly now. In the old days they'd just fold a piece of metal and file it to fit. I lost wax process cast mine. So.” Just then the tech came in with the tools. “Ah! Thank you. Now we'll see.” Wufei used the punch to poke the mekugi out as he explained that this peg was all that held the sword together; as, in this case there was no friction between the nakago, or tang and the ho, or actual wooden inner grip. He shook his head and snorted, “This is, or was, a decent blade made in about 160AC. I'm not familiar with the makers mark, or mei, but you could look it up easily enough. I will say that whoever had this sword last, abused it. Badly. Some amateur back yard cutter, not knocking them in general as most of them are fairly skilled and extremely careful. This person, however, is what I call a wannabe Samurai. I'd like to see the body now.” Duo, who'd been standing beside Une near the door, said, “I'll take you down to the morgue. Do you want to finish unwrapping the ito?” “No, but I'd suggest someone else do so and test the sami and cord for blood, other than the victims, and any chemicals that might be in it. I'd like to see the tests, if possible, I might learn something from that. Body?” Duo just turned and left, leaving Dr. Ploverton to order a series of tests on the cord and sami, which he decided to unravel himself. Duo led Wufei to the elevator again and this time they went down. Wufei snarled that he didn't see any sense in having labs all over the building. Duo just explained that most of the labs were in this five story complex but the morgue was in the basement so that they didn't have to bring the bodies up, taking a chance of having a civilian see them. Wufei sighed, “Sorry. I just hate looking at bodies.” “I know. I'm not fond of it either. Seems really strange. I mean, we all saw horrible things during combat, blood, guts, gore, the whole nine yards. But, I just ... there they are, all sanitized, laid out on a steel table and it's creepy.” Wufei nodded then jumped slightly as the elevator doors popped open. Duo stepped out and started down the hall. “This way. Can I ask what you're looking for?” “Sure. I want to see the cuts. It's possible I can determine something from the cut marks. Or, it's possible I may just gross myself out. We'll have to see.” “Ok. Want me to stay with you?” “Yes, please. I really don't want to be in a morgue by myself.” Duo shook his head. “The attendant will stay.” “Can I trust him to watch my back?” Duo allowed, “Probably not.” ~ * ~ tbc... |
