Cannibals

By DragonMage

Notes: Thank you to everyone who wrote with those wonderful comments! *grin* They're much appreciated. Most of the explanations won't come until a bit later, so please bear with me while I try to screw everything over nice and neatly. *beams* Again, this is for Goldmund.

"All men are mortal."

---Western Proverb

Chapter 3

When Wufei woke up his head was pounding and his whole body screamed with pain. But then that wasn't anything new. He was used to this and knew his body was going to knit up soon enough and he'd be able to move around normally in a few days.

Slowly opening his eyes, the Chinese man found the room dark, the curtains closed and the distinct smell of blood in the room. He wrinkled his nose and made a mental note to bring out some of his scented candles and incense to chase that heavy metallic smell away. Just because he dealt with death every day on the streets didn't mean he wanted to bring it home. Besides, Mariemeia would smell it and his daughter would, naturally, ask some questions about it. As much as he hated lying to her, Wufei had learned that it was the only way to protect her. Or at least in his own way.

With a great deal of care, Wufei sat up. He immediately doubled over with pain but didn't make a single sound. He hated being weak, and making a sound meant being weak in his mind. He took a deep, slow, steady breath and slowly unfolded himself from his bent-over shape. He pulled the covers off his sore body and slowly slid out of bed. He grabbed at the nightstand for some sort of balance and slowly made his way to the door. He placed his hand on the cool metal knob and slowly turned it, making sure not to make any sudden movements. He pulled open the door only to meet cool Prussian blue eyes. He jerked back, startled.

"What the--?" Wufei gasped as his legs went out on him. He would have fallen if strong arms didn't catch him. He clutched at his rescuer's arms and tried to steady himself, but his body wasn't cooperating and pain hazed his mind. He finally let go and went limp, allowing the other man to right him.

"Are you all right?" a low, quiet voice asked.

"Fine, just peachy," Wufei said through gritted teeth. He fought the pain and won. Soon his head cleared and he was standing on his own again--even if he *was* practically letting the wall support his entire body.

"Wufei?" Zechs appeared, wearing an apron. The thing was red with lace outlining it. It was too short and dropped only to Zechs' thighs.

The Chinese man raised an eyebrow in question and snorted.

Zechs looked harassed. "Hey, this was in *your* kitchen closet."

"It's...it's Sally's," Wufei managed without snickering.

"No wonder," Zechs drawled. "And here I thought you had a thing for ruffles."

"Naw, they just don't work for me," Wufei deadpanned. "What are you doing?"

"Making dinner."

Wufei turned and looked at his 'rescuer'. "Who the hell are you?"

"You asked me that already. My name's Heero," the quiet man told him.

"Ah, you're the one who blew the head off the Cannibal behind me," Wufei acknowledge. "Wonderful. I'm going to go shower. I have to wash brains out of my hair, thank you very much." Then he turned and made his way towards the bathroom.

"Wufei! Wait!"

Wufei turned around, irritated. "What, Zechs?"

"Beef or chicken?" the blonde man asked his expression perfectly straight.

"Beef."

~*~

After taking a wonderfully relaxing bath that soothed his aching body, Wufei had his bandages re-wrapped. He was now sitting at the dining table dressed in a white T-shirt that hung off him, revealing a bruised shoulder and a pair of loose black sweats. In front of him was a plate of beef that Zechs had made. Who knew the blonde actually knew how to cook? Wufei certainly didn't! And here he thought the only thing Zechs was good at was killing Cannibals. Surprise, surprise.

Heero tried not to stare at the Chinese man sitting across from him. Instead, he tried to focus on his plate of beef. But it was a bit difficult. Wufei was just sitting there, looking perfectly at ease with himself, one shoulder revealed almost enticingly from underneath the large T-shirt. <What is wrong with me?> the Japanese man thought, almost frowning. He usually didn't react to people like this. Hell, most of the time he just didn't give a damn. Except...Wufei caught his attention somehow and he couldn't ignore it. It wouldn't have been a bad thing if hadn't been so dangerous.

The dinner was quiet save Duo's constant chatter. He seemed to love talking--a lot. Zechs answered most of the questions since Heero was the taciturn type and Wufei was focusing too much on his pains to really form an answer.

When it finally ended Zechs and Duo ended up washing the dishes while Wufei sat there, nursing a cup of warm tea while Heero tried, again, not to stare at him. The Chinese man was oblivious to the looks the Japanese man gave on him occasion. He had other things on his mind.

"I can't keep both of you here," Wufei suddenly said, breaking the silence. "I don't have enough room first off, and Mariemeia won't be comfortable having two strangers in the house."

Duo turned around and smiled cheerfully. "Don't worry. I'll just stay with Zechsy here. I bet he has a nice, big mansion for me to take advantage of--as well as other things." He winked at 'Zechsy' and went back to rinsing the dishes.

Zechs rolled his eyes, not really irked by Duo's blatant behavior. "Fine. Gods, who knew I'd be taking in strays, now?"

"Hey! I resent that--!" Duo exclaimed with a great deal of humor, his violet eyes dancing.

Wufei turned to Heero. "You can sleep in my room. The couch doesn't really pull out and it'd be really uncomfortable. In my room at least you have a futon."

"All right."

Satisfied with the arrangements, Wufei stood up and started for his bedroom. He needed to get as much rest as possible and get his strength back as well as heal. He didn't want to look like this when Mariemeia came home tomorrow morning. His daughter would fret and worry and he just didn't want her to go through that. He hoped he was better in the morning.

His last thought, before his head touched the pillow, was how Mariemeia was going to deal with another man in the house...

~*~

Heero was in the kitchen, talking with Duo while Zechs was off in the bathroom cleaning up before they left for Zechs home.

"You wanna keep this going?" the Japanese man asked, raising an eyebrow.

Duo grinned, his violet eyes wicked. "Hell yeah, bro! Did you take a look at Zechsy's ass? Of course we're gonna keep this up--or at least until I get a good lay." His face suddenly turned comically sad. "I haven't gotten a lay in such a long time..."

Heero rolled his eyes. "Duo..."

"We'll get rid of them in time, Heero. Until then, let's make it as hard as possible for them to get their duty done."

"Like what?"

"Arrange attacks at a time when it's near impossible for them to get to in time...You know, that sort of thing," Duo said, waving his hand vaguely. "If we kill them, a new set might just pop up and follow their example. I think it's better if we just play with them for a little while until the day comes for everything to reach the final stage. *Then* we kill them."

"Fine. I just don't want Mother to get upset."

"You worry too much about her."

"She's insane, Duo."

"You think I haven't noticed? Damnit, Heero, I'm glad to be outta that hole. It's nice to be on the surface, breathing somewhat 'clean' air. This is what Mother wants, this is want the Cannibals want. Fresh air, a life on the surface, something *good*. Their mothers, all of them, rejected them. Thrown away because their family didn't love them for one stupid reason after another. It's time to give them something worth living for. These humans have taken away too much!"

Heero nodded. "I know what we're fighting for, Duo, but I just wanted to make sure nothing happens along the way."

"Don't worry, I won't do anything stupid. I'm just going to have some fun," Duo said, shrugging. "You fret too much."

Heero grunted. "I do not 'fret'. I'm just making sure everything is going smoothly and nothing will get in our way."

"Nothing will happen. We'll win and all humans will die."

"Good." Heero stood up and touched his brother on his shoulder. "Good night. Rest well and don't hurt Zechs too much."

Duo smirked. "I won't."

Rolling his eyes, Heero snorted before heading for the bedroom he was going to share with Wufei. He pushed open the door and stepped inside, closing it quietly. His eyes adjusted immediately to the dark and he could see as well as a person in daylight. Growing up in darkness gave you certain advantages when your body adapts to it.

He could see Wufei on his bed, a blanket pulled up to his waist. His long hair was loose and slightly damp from his bath, spilling across white cotton pillows. He was breathing heavily, a sign of deep sleep, his expression at ease with a few lines of pain marring the serenity.

Tearing his eyes away from the sight of Wufei, he walked over to the futon and started stripping off his clothing, kicking off his shoes. Then he lay down and pulled the blanket over his shoulders. He closed his eyes and quickly fell asleep.

~*~

Duo waited in the living room for Zechs to finish his shower. After all, he was going to go home with the man; he needed to wait for him. Closing his eyes, and a decidedly wicked smile playing on his lips, Duo wondered how Zechs looked like naked and wet...

His imagination was getting pretty descriptive when he heard some movement behind him. He turned around to find Zechs standing there in the clothing he had worn before, cleaned of bloodstains, his hair wet and hanging down his back. The blonde God--which Duo thought was *very* appropriate name--was pulling on his gloves, obliviously to Duo's drooling.

Then Duo wolf-whistled.

Zechs' head snapped up and he raised an eyebrow.

Duo pulled a coy look that was ruined by the whole wickedness that the man radiated. "Do you know how sexy you look right now? I just wanna jump you!"

"No. Jumping," Zechs said, shaking his head. "I don't know you; you don't know me. We're not going to screw each other."

"Not now at least, right?" Duo asked, batting wide eyes.

Zechs smirked. "Not now at least."

Duo was surprised but delighted. He got up from the couch and walked over to Zechs. He placed his hands on the taller man's chest and smiled up at him. "Do I at least get a kiss?"

"No. Now come on, it's a long walk back to my own home. We have to start now if we want to get there before morning," Zechs said, pushing Duo away and heading for the door.

Duo looked put out but he quickly regained his bounce. "Well, at least I get to try and seduce you the whole way there, ne?"

"You can try," came the dry response.

Duo smiled and followed the man out of the door, ideas dancing in his head.

~*~

The next morning...

"Papa!!"

The scream startled Heero into dropping his cup of coffee in the kitchen. He had just been eating his breakfast, thinking about what he and Duo were doing, when he heard it. He never knew someone could scream so loudly.

Standing up, Heero decided to investigate who the hell just screamed. He was greeted with the sight of a young girl with long reddish-blonde hair hugging Wufei with everything in her slight being. Wufei was hugging her back, his face pressed to her hair. He smiled and pulled back, kissing her on the forehead before hugging her again.

"I missed you! It was fun at Aunt Sally's place, but I still missed you. Did you get your work done, Papa?" the girl asked, smiling beautifully.

<Papa? This is Wufei's child? Funny, I can't seem to see the family resemblance,> Heero thought, watching. <Humans are strange. Some just throw away their children while others get too many. Then there are those who don't even look like the ones they have. Did Wufei adopt this child? It would be the only explanation.>

"Yes, Meia, I got my work done," Wufei said, nodding. He looked up at Sally who stood at the doorway, smiling. "Thank you, Sally. I hope she wasn't any trouble." He stood up and smiled warmly at her.

The woman named Sally shook her head. "No trouble at all. She was an absolute angel." Mariemeia beamed at the compliment.

As Heero watched, he felt something tug on his heartstrings. This was a family, this was something he had heard about, and read about in the books they procured from the surface. He just never knew it was real, existing on the surface. To see it...It did something strange to him. He turned away, not wanting that 'something strange' to do anything further to him. He had more important things to do and he wasn't going to let things like *that* get in the way of his purpose.

"Heero, come and meet my daughter, Mariemeia," Wufei's low tenor suddenly caught him. He turned around and nodded reluctantly and walked over to where the little girl stood between Wufei and Sally.

"Hello, Mariemeia," the Japanese man said politely, holding out his hand. The young girl looked at it for a brief moment before shaking it and then bobbing a short bow. Heero smiled and straightened to find Sally looking at him with suspicion.

"So, you're from another city?" Sally asked.

Heero nodded. "Yes."

"Which one?"

"I doubt you would be familiar with it. It's Steel City."

"Not so far..." Then Sally abruptly turned and faced Wufei. "I have to get to work and Noin is starting to get impatient. You know how she is. Good-bye, Wufei, I'll see you later."

Wufei nodded. "Of course. Good-bye, Sally, and thank you."

"No problem." Sally smiled and kissed Mariemeia on the forehead before turning and leaving.

Wufei closed the door and locked it. He turned to Mariemeia and knelt down so they were eye to eye. "Are you hungry?"

"Nope. Aunt Sally gave me some breakfast before coming here."

"Great. Meia, I have some things to take care of, okay? So I want you to go to your bedroom and do your homework."

Mariemeia sighed but nodded. "Yes, Papa." She kissed her father on the cheek before running to her room.

Wufei slowly stood up and turned to face Heero.

"She's a very beautiful girl," Heero said, nodding in the direction Mariemeia had ran off to.

"I know. Now why don't we go into the kitchen and get some things settled, hm?" Wufei titled his head to the side before turning and walking to the kitchen, expecting to Heero to follow, which he did.

"What do you want to talk about?" Heero asked as he sat down again on his previous seat.

Wufei frowned when he saw the coffee spill and grabbed a few paper towels and began to wipe up the mess. "How long will you be staying here in Tier."

"Until the problem with the Cannibals goes away."

"What kind of problem?"

"We're afraid that we heard a rumor that the troubles with the Cannibals was going to get worse here in Tier so we decided to come and help you guys out. Don't you want the help?" Heero asked, almost challengingly.

Wufei raised his eyes and looked at him. "Of course we want help." He straightened the soiled towels in his hand. "But how can we trust you? We haven't even heard of you until last night. Do you expect me to believe every single word that comes out of your mouth?"

For some reason--and Heero thought it completely and utterly unreasonable--Wufei's suspicion hurt. Naturally the man had a reason to be suspicious but it strung that Wufei didn't trust him. <As if he has a reason to!> one part of his mind snorted. And he knew that part was right. Wufei had no reason whatsoever to trust him. He was, after all, going to betray him and Zechs and kill both of them.

But it still stung.

And it drove him crazy he didn't know why.

"Just try," the Japanese man said softly. "We want to help--" the lies came so easily from his lips "--all you have to do is trust us. We're going to help you get rid of this problem and maybe, if we're lucky, we can finally bring some peace and safety to these people. Don't you want that for your daughter? For her to be able to go to school and not get attacked by a Cannibal?"

Wufei's hands tightened around the towels and cold, dirty coffee dripped from them, back onto the recently cleaned table. "You know I want to protect my daughter." He looked Heero hard in the eye. "And that means making sure those I work with are worthy." He turned sharply and threw the towels in the trash, grabbed fresh ones and wiped up his mess before washing his hands.

"What can I do to prove that I'm worthy?" Heero asked boldly.

Wufei's back stiffened, his hands clutching at the sides of the sink almost painfully. "We'll see," was the only thing he said.

~*~

"What is Dragon Blood?" Heero asked a few minutes later, breaking the silence that had suspended them for so long as Wufei cleaned up his kitchen and Heero sat there, watching.

The Chinese man looked up from his scrubbing and brushed a few errant strands of hair from his face. "A long time ago my family was bound to another family by a blood ritual--the other family were dragons in human form. The blood ritual was performed to protect my family from a raid of demons and ghosts that had attacked out lands. It was hundreds of years ago, when those kinds of things walked the Earth without human intervention as they do now.

"The ritual had done more than just bind us to dragons for protection and long life, we also started developing certain traits of a dragon although we retained our human frame. Some of us were able to run, think, act, speak faster; some of us could see into the future briefly; others can control the elements. Over the years the blood was diluted by the marriage of our family into other families and clans. The blood started thinning out and soon only a few children actually showed promise of using the power the Dragon Blood gave us.

"Some times the powers don't show up until they've reached puberty, other times they come to life when they're only in danger. There are different reason and circumstances that lead to the use of the power.

"By the time it was my great-grandfather's generation, the Dragon Blood was only seen in a few rare cases. Many of the times it only came for a little while and disappeared, as the child grew older. Other times the Dragon Blood is there for the person's entire lifetime. But they were always weak things such as slight premonitions, the ability to use telekinesis to lift small things like pencils and cups. Sometimes it was inhuman strength and speed. All of it differs depending on the person and how much Dragon Blood they have inside of him.

"When it come to my generation, I was the only one among my family that had any trace of Dragon Blood inside of him. And I got lucky. My Dragon Blood was more and stronger than anyone has ever seen in years. I could move faster than anyone I knew, I could hit harder than my own father by the age of twelve. That was my gift from the unusual amount of Dragon Blood inside of me. I was faster and stronger than anyone I knew or anyone my family knew." Wufei shrugged and resumed his scrubbing of the oven; a simple task that Heero couldn't see fit the unusual man.

"So, you're part dragon?" Heero asked curiously.

"No, I'm not. I just have Dragon Blood inside of me," Wufei said, shaking his head. He finished scrubbing and threw everything into the sink to the cleaned.

"That's fascinating. Does Mariemeia have it?" Heero cocked his head to the side and watched Wufei's expression.

The Chinese man shook his head wearily. "No, she doesn't. If you hadn't noticed, she's not my blood at all. She was adopted." His tone implied that the subject was to be closed immediately. Heero decided to take the hint. He didn't want to push it and make Wufei suspicious of him. The whole point of this was to gain Wufei's trust.

"Why did you get into the business of Cannibal hunting?" came another question.

Wufei shrugged. "Why not? I saw the death and pain that the Cannibals had caused. I wanted it to all go away so I decided to take up a weapon and do something about it. What's your reason?"

"It's probably the same as yours," Heero said, shrugging. "All I want is for the Cannibals to go away..."

"Madame Une is an insane woman who should have her head cut off and stuck on a stick," Wufei suddenly said with incredible hate and vehemence. "I can't believe she does the things she does. Who does she think she is?" His hands clenched into tight, white fists and his face darkened with anger.

Heero bit back on the reflex to immediately defend his mother, someone who had taken care of him when no one else did. When his own family abandoned him, she had taken care of him. He owed a lot to her--both him and Duo. Without her, they would have probably died in the cesspool they were pulled out of by her.

Fighting down the anger of Wufei's hate against his mother, Heero answered neutrally, "Everyone has their reasons for what they do." At Wufei's incredulous expression, he added, "But at times those reasons are wrong and hateful and should not be put into action."

"Damn straight," Wufei muttered furiously. He pulled off the rubber gloves encasing his hands and threw them angrily into the sink. He turned to Heero. "I'm going to go hunting tonight, will you come?"

"Of course," Heero answered. "I came here for that reason, didn't I?"

"I also have to meet some contacts. I can't let you come with me though because they won't allow anyone else to meet them except me. It's dangerous, sometimes, what they do to get their information and they can't be ratted out," Wufei said calmly, reasonably.

Heero nodded. "I understand. I'll stay here and take care of Mariemeia."

Fear suddenly flickered in Wufei's eyes before disappearing, leaving nothing. "Can I trust you to take care of her and not put her in any harm?"

"You can."

Wufei nodded. "All right. But if you put her in any danger whatsoever, I will hunt you down and make sure you wish you were never born." With that threat said, Wufei turned and disappeared to his bedroom to get dressed.

Heero sat there for a moment, a bit stunned over Wufei's threat but didn't let it faze him. Wufei was just suspicious. It would pass, soon. He would make certain of that. Absently, he wondered how Duo as doing.

~*~

Duo was having tons of fun flirting and basically making it a living hell for Zechs. He sat in a velvet chair, only so many feet away from Zechs who was working on some reports for his business at his dark oak table in his office. The platinum blonde man was trying his best to ignore Duo but it was hard when the other man was dressed simply in a white dress shirt and his boxers.

"Zechs..."

"What?"

"What are you doing?"

Zechs sighed heavily. "I told you already, Duo. I'm doing some reports. Why don't you go watch TV or something?"

"You know there's nothing good on and all the porn is reruns," Duo said with a small pout. He almost laughed when he saw that endearing flush spread across Zechs' cheeks and down his neck. The man was so easy to tease!

"Why don't you go read a book?"

"Nothing interesting."

"Okay, then why don't you go and explore the place? This mansion is big enough to keep you busy for a little while," Zechs said reasonably, hoping Duo would take his advice and do it. He needed to get this work done before the end of the day and Duo wasn't doing anything to help. Never mind that the man had the creamiest looking legs Zechs had *ever* seen on a person, man or woman, but he was also distracting him with silly questions, all of which was said in a groin-tightening voice.

"I've already done that, remember?" Duo got up from the chair and walked over to Zechs desk. He hopped on it and arranged himself until he was sitting in front of Zechs, right on his unfinished paper work, with his pale legs spread enticingly. He grinned happily. "Why don't *you* keep me entertained?"

"Duo," Zechs managed to grit out instead of whimper. Yes, he was attracted to this man but he was trying to rein his desires. Couldn't Duo see that? <Damn little sadist...He's doing this because he *knows* I want him on his back,> Zechs thought viciously. They had only known each other less than twenty-four hours, for God's sakes! What was wrong with him? He knew Duo probably did this for fun but he, himself, never did this before! He never had an attraction this strong before, it unnerved him.

"Yes," Duo said sweetly, knowing that Zechs' control was probably shattering like thin ice.

"Get off my table. I need to do work." Then, Zechs--startling the hell outta Duo--lifted the young man bodily up and placed him back in his chair. The blonde man smoothed down his shirt before turning and sitting back down at his desk. He picked up his pen and continued working, ignoring Duo for all he could.

Duo was stunned to say the least. Here he was, throwing himself at Zechs, but the man outright ignored all advances. Or at least fought them for all he was worth. <By the gods, this man isn't human!> *No one* ever resisted him before. This wasn't right! No one was supposed to be *able* to resist him! But here he was, sprawled on the chair Zechs had deposited him on. Now, instead of being stunned, he was insulted. He glared at the man ignoring him and stuck out his tongue.

"Hmph!" was all Zechs heard before the door slammed closed, leaving him alone in the office.

~*~

Wufei kissed Mariemeia on the forehead and bid her good-bye before leaving the room. He found Heero sitting outside in the living room, reading a book. He didn't trust the man but he couldn't call Sally or Noin since both were at work and he didn't want to bother him. Heero was his only baby-sitter at the moment and he would have to make due since he didn't want to miss his meeting with his contact.

Heero looked up at him and nodded. "Good-bye. I guess I'll see you later tonight when we go out to hunt."

"Take care of her," was all Wufei said before he left the apartment.

~*Owari Chapter 3*~

Ack, this fic might be moving fast...I don't know. *sweatdrop* Oh well...Comments, onegai! *V*