Kingdoms of the Land and Sea
-a YYH and GW alternate universe

Part 2
--------------------------------

Wufei stared broodingly at his silent friend, fingering the sword hilt 
at his waist absently.  The elven prince had been acting strangely for 
the past few days--no one else seemed to have noticed, but Wufei wasn't 
Heero's best friend for nothing.  Lately, the other boy's glares had 
been half-hearted attempts at best, more like a conditioned reflex than 
anything else, and, even more alarming, was the fact that Wufei had 
actually been able to count on the fingers of _one_ hand the number of 
times Heero'd muttered 'Omae wo korosu'.  That was practically _unheard_
of, seeing as that phrase was Heero's usual greeting to anyone who 
displeased him, those people mostly being everyone he met.  His friend 
hadn't even threatened that annoying woman when she'd shown up wailing 
for his attention!  He'd not even glared, just brushed her off and 
walked away.  Wufei was seriously beginning to worry.  It was just so...
not Heero.

If his friend had been anyone else, he'd just've assumed the other 
was sick and acted accordingly, but this was the 'Perfect Soldier' 
they were talking about.  Heero _never_ got sick.  Elves were a such 
hardy bunch.  Wufei sighed, ruffling his wings irritably.  It was damned 
unfair, he groused to himself.  Goddess bless, sometimes he wished _he'd_ 
been born an elf.  His own people were such..._delicate_ creatures.  He 
growled softly.  If he ever got his hands on the cosmic jokester who'd 
dumped him in this body, he was going to introduce him to the sharp edge 
of his sword.  Slowly.  And painfully.  With lots of blood and screaming.  
Yes, screaming was good.

Reluctantly shaking off the satisfyingly blood-thirsty images, Wufei 
spread his iridiscent wings and flew down from the wooden beam he'd 
been standing on.  It was time to find out just what was bothering 
Heero.  His weird behavior was starting to get on his nerves.

* * * * *

"Heero."

The dark-haired boy continued to stare out the window, cobalt eyes
slightly unfocused as though seeing something other than the wildly
blooming gardens below.

Wufei bit back a curse and tried again.  Louder this time.

"Heero!"

The elven prince just sighed softly, staring at the window in 
fascination as his faint reflection slowly became indistinct, 
blurring at the edges.  Spiky dark hair grew longer, and turned the 
color of sun-kissed chestnut.  Blue eyes gradually darkened, and 
turned an entrancing violet.  So deep, those eyes.  So full of 
secrets he'd like to--

"HEERO!!!"

A small, but firm hand landed on his shoulder, whipping him around to 
meet a pair of annoyed brown eyes.  Said eyes were set in a lightly
bronzed face, a face whose delicate features were currently twisted 
into a fierce scowl.

"Just what in Hades is your problem, Yuy?!?  Couldn't you hear me 
calling?!"

Heero blinked, fantasy shattering into a million shards.  "W-Wufei?"

The smaller boy rolled his eyes.  "Who else would it be, baka?"  he 
asked, crossing his arms irritably in front of his chest.  "Well?  
Aren't you going to explain yourself?" he demanded impatiently.

Heero shook his head slightly to clear it of the last remnants of his
daydream.  "What?"

Wufei huffed in exasperation, but his dark eyes clouded over with the
faintest traces of worry.  It wasn't like Heero to let his mind wander 
like this.  "What is going on with you, Heero?" he asked, voice taking 
on a softer tone.  "You haven't been yourself lately."  

The elven prince turned his back to his companion, not wanting the other 
to see the welter of conflicting emotions flickering in his eyes.  

"It's nothing."  

Wufei's eyes narrowed.  
  
"Yuy..." he growled, glaring at the back of his friend's head.  "Stop 
being an idiot and talk to me!"

Heero sighed, leaning his head against the cool panes of the window.
"...Go away, Wufei."

"Not a chance, Yuy!"  The slender boy plunked himself down on the
floor, a stubborn expression on his face.  "I'm not leaving until you 
tell me what's going on!"

"Hn, suki na you ni shinasai(1),"  Heero replied coldly, uncurling 
himself from the window seat and standing up to leave.

(1) Do as you like.



Muttering darkly under his breath, the dark-haired fairy quickly got up
and followed.



* * * * * 

Several hours of aimless wandering later, a noticeable tic had developed 
under the exotic boy's left eye.

  Wufei glared daggers at the elven prince's back, doggedly
flying after the ungrateful bastard.  Of all the sentient creatures in 
the world, he just _had_ to choose an anti-social, homicidal, _psychotic_
elf to befriend.  

The sound of his teeth grinding together could be heard over the soft,
rhythmic fluttering of his wings.

Heero eyed the silently fuming boy and sighed, shaking his head slightly 
in defeat.  Wufei was dead set on getting him to talk, and he knew it 
was only a matter of time before the other boy got his way.  When he
felt like it, the fey youth could make _mules_ look amiable.

Today appeared to be one of _those_ days.

Sigh.



His decision made, the dark-haired prince stopped and turned to look at
his friend.  "Ne, Wufei?" 

The winged boy came to an abrupt halt, sparkles of fairy dust scattering
around him as he hovered in mid-air.  "What?" he ground out, raking a hand
through his long ebon hair.

Cobalt eyes bored into orbs of dark brown.  "Would you like to go for a 
ride?"

* * * * *

It was a beautiful spring day.  Clear blue skies stretched out for miles, 
framing majestic, snow-capped mountains that seemed to march off into 
infinity.  Playful sprites chased each other between wind-smoothed rocks, 
their happy laughter echoing off the jagged peaks.  Off in the distance, 
an eagle soared, lazily circling the craggy rocks for prey.  

It was a day that positively _reeked_ of peace and tranquillity. 

Hiei sighed, exhaling a loud gust of air.   He was so completely and
totally _bored_.  He glared at the peaceful panorama stretching out before
him.  Damn, nothing interesting _ever_ happened here.  

Check that, _almost_ nothing interesting.

Hiei scowled, remembering the last bit of excitement they'd had, when that 
idiot human had come and somehow persuaded his sister to marry him.  His 
expression darkened, the memory of _Sir_ Kuwabara's overenthusiastic 
courtship setting his teeth on edge yet again.  What Yukina saw in that 
carrot-topped loud mouth he _still_ didn't know.



The thought made his lips curl up in a smirk.

Levering his large, black-scaled body up, the young dragon decided to go
and pay his sister and her blockhead of a husband a visit.  It was high time 
he went and resumed making Kuwabara's life a living hell.  No sense in 
letting that moron think that getting a dragon princess to marry him 
automatically entitled him to live the easy life.

Who knew, he might actually manage to chase the idiot away this time.

With a positively _evil_ cackle, Hiei took to the skies.

* * * * *

"But Father, I can't possibly--"

"The discussion is over, Kurama."  The black-haired king's voice was colder
than the frozen depths of the Northern Sea.  "You _will_ obey me in this."

"Demo--!"

"You aren't, by any chance, going to disregard my wishes, are you my son?"
Yomi asked menacingly, hard eyes boring into darkened emerald orbs.  "I
thought we'd taken care of that little misunderstanding."  Long fingers
stroked the handle of a sickeningly familiar whip.  "Or do you need 
another lesson?"

Slender shoulders stiffened, then slumped in defeat.  

"Iie," the younger noble whispered, head bowed.  

The king moved closer to the prince's taut form, hand darting out to lift
the boy's face to meet his own.  Large green eyes stared back at him in
fear. 

"I trust that we...understand each other?"  Yomi's fingers lovingly moved 
over the boy's delicate skin.

Kurama flinched away from the soft caress.  Twisting away from his father's 
grasp, the young redhead managed a choked "Yes", before swimming out of the 
room, his slender figure shuddering with surpressed sobs.

Possessive eyes stared after the fleeing form. 

 

Elegant fingers were lifted, and brushed against smiling lips.



With a husky, self-satisfied laugh, the insane monarch turned and seated 
himself back on his throne.

<_Mine_.>

* * * * * 

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