Tiles

part 1
By: kc-chan

Notes: I tried... I really really *really* tried not to jump into an AU piece... so very badly. But it happened. Bare with me... lots of jumps between "present day" and the past. Spoilers from the series and endless waltz and the manga. And it's slow moving imho, but hey... I tried making a plot before I get to all the sex... Special thanks to Lilie the mouse-san for beta-checking my French!

Warnings: this doesn't apply to all chapters but overall, AU, angst, NCS aka rape, lemon (lords love me lots of lemon), yaoi, and bastardization of a character whom shall remain nameless not to give away any hints...

Pairings: 6x5/5x6; 1x2; 3x4; mentions of 13x6 and Mx5/5xM and other ...erm... non-cannon pairings....

Other warnings: um... I will be using a lot of other languages for story purposes. I find it adds... some really convincing elements to the story and reflections on certain characters. There will be notes on the meanings but for those who speak French or Italian and Russian? Any pointers on grammer or spelling would be great!

Tiles
By: kc-chan

Part One

<< Again I wake up on the tiles
It's like I was never gone.
And just before the pain comes on,
Remember this is where I started from. >> <1>

Duo slumped in his chair, mindlessly rapping his half nibbled on pencil against a beat up old desk. He glared at the small fan on his desk humming as fast as it was able, as if his glare would cool the office down. It was morbidly blistering and swelteringly hot in the Preventers Office. Too hot to do work, not that he and his partner ever had cases to work on. The unofficial bodyguard team of the organization, they tended to spend many days doing absolutely nothing at their desks.

Well, Duo at least. Heero made himself the ever useful soldier and did a little hacking whenever Lady Une requested it. Himself on the other hand, was too hot to move. He was considering seeing if stripping to only his boxers in an office was against Preventers rules...

Just then his favourite lil object to torment strolled past. And he reached out just in time to nab a slender wrist in his hand. "Hey Wu-chan! Going out on any assignment? Can I come?" the perky violet eyed boy asked.

Wufei sighed and lifted on slim black brow in question.

"Because!" Duo exclaimed exasperated that not only did the Asian boy not seem affected by the sweltering heat in the office, but now he was understanding what Doctor Sally called "Wufei-ese". He was a genius of non verbal communication.

The other brow raised in suspicion.

"Damn it Wu! Speak like a normal human being!" Duo grated out, blighting the Chinese boy with a withering glance.

With a quiver in those rosebud lips that could have been considered by those who knew the boy well, to be the beginnings of a smile, Wufei replied in well won unprecedented calm. "Why, Maxwell?"

"I'm bored! It's hot! Entertain me!" Duo pleaded, turning violet eyed into puppy eyes that would hopefully gain pity in the former L5 pilot.

"Hn." Was his reply and Wufei walked towards his office, not of course without a certain hyper pilot on his tail.

"Hn? HN? Jeez! You and Heero... Not to sound racist or anything... But is this an Asian thing? Or something you and Hee-chan decided was a real usage of Japanese?" Duo muttered, knitting his arms behind his neck and matching pace easily with the other boy.

Wufei rolled his eyes. "No, its out mutual way of ignoring you."

"I knew it! I *knew* it! You and Hee-chan have been plotting against me all these years!" Duo moaned dramatically and leaned on a nearby cubicle. Disturbing the poor intern working there. Placing his hand on his forehead, he pretended to break into tears.

Wufei blinked. And slowly a small smirk glide over his lips. "That's exactly it Maxwell. Yuy and I have plotted against you. We figured that by ignoring you, we would get you venerable, then when you weren't expecting it..." he paused and locked his deep chocolate eyes against shocked violet ones. Leaning closer till their lips almost touched he whispered in the huskiest voice he could, that wouldn't allow him to fall into hysterics. "We were going to handcuff you to a bed and make hot passionate love with you."

Duo blinked. Wufei had rambled to him in an entire sentence. More than one or two words... The shock had taken over his body and all thinking processes shut down. Wufei look this opportunity to briskly walk to his office and get into its haven before Duo regained his wits.

"You're blushing." An obviously assumed velvet tone drawled out, looking up from the paperwork strew about two desks lodged together.

"Hn." The black eyed boy muttered, and without daring to look up stalked over to his desk and plopped down in the chair. He was quite aware that he was blushing and he didn't need his partner telling him that.

"You are only setting yourself up for the fall..." an amused tone continued, briefly walking over to the blinded window and peeking out. Looking back at Wufei with a raised eyebrow of surprise he questioned, "What did you say to him?"

"Why?" the gruff and still brightly colored face asked.

"He is still in shock..." The tall blonde replied.

"Ah... um... nothing." Wufei murmured and felt the temperature raise a few degrees. This was terribly uncomfortable. He only wanted to get himself rid of Maxwell for the day...

"Really?" the soft drawl and black eyes managed to lift only to be confronted by piercingly pale blue eyes. "Really, Wufei. You can't lie to me."

"Nothing! Zechs cut it out!" the smaller boy yelped as the former OZ soldier looked lazily at him.

"Nothing?"

How did that man do this to him? Wufei growled softly, the blush increasing and barely audibly whispered, "He taunting me about Heero and I and our lack of his running of the mouth. And that we were plotting against him."

A slim eyebrow raised elegantly. "Sure that was all?"

Wufei prayed for the gates of Hell to open under this man. Marquise never failed in wheedling every bit of information from him. Every time and Wufei was dumbstruck on how... Okay the light tone the man used and the infernal silence acted as his guilt... "And I replied that we did."

"Ah." Zechs replied and neatly stacked a few papers.

Wufei's cheeks bloomed back to their earlier crimson and muttered, "And told him that... that... We were going to..."

He swallowed as Zechs merely nodded and continued working. And finished in one breath, "handcuffhimtoabedandmakehotpassionatelovewithhim..."

That regained all of the tall blondes attention. "You've been hanging around Duo too often. He's rubbing off on you." Zechs stood and stretched and then added after a long moment with a catty grin, "It would have been better if you added 'till your ass is as red as a cherry'."

"Zechs!!!" Wufei growled caught between anger and full fledged embarrassment.

The said man merely tried to keep from laughing to death at the look his small partner gave him. After a long few minutes he managed to work out a reply. "You didn't want him to find out that we were the only ones not dying of heat cause of our window AC. Right?"

Wufei slammed down in his seat and glared at the man till his giggles were subsided. Then slowly cracked a slight grin. "Hey, I am allowed not to want to share."

Zechs wiped a few tears of mirth from the corner of his eye and sat on his desk and filtered through the papers. "I don't blame you. After all, we would then have the entire damn office in ours."

"Well, almost... we would have to leak the information that Une had her vents fixed already..." Wufei replied and shifted the stack in his hand to the out box.

"Did she? Hmmm..." Zechs replied skimming through the new cases.

"Strange weather though. I mean how many offices in the city are forced to turn on the AC in the middle of winter?" Wufei muttered. Placing another set of reports in their place. "Any files to be put away?"

"Hm? Oh, did it already..." silence continued for a few hours then. It was their way. The day would start off in some form of teasing and heckling. Usually to Wufei's disadvantage, then it would dwindle to basic morning exchanges. By ten am their private office had become silent. Working in almost complete silence till Noin or Sally usually interrupted them for their lunch break. Sometimes one of the "danger duo", as they were referred to would come. Meaning Duo and Heero.

~~~~~'~~@@~~'~~~~~

Noon rolled around fairly quickly. It found Sally and Noin knocking on their door for lunch. "Hey come on!" Sally called. "You can not stay in there all day!"

Wufei sighed and pushed himself up. Crossing the room he opened the door. "What time is it?"

Noin somehow snuck her head around Sally and chuckled, "Lunch time! You guys could always get a clock around this hell hole of an office." She stepped inside their private room.

Sally laughed and inquired, "How come its so damn hot up here?"

Zechs stood with a lingering stretch, "Heater's broken. Won't be repaired for another week. You have to love these old historic buildings."

The black haired boy merely snorted his thoughts on that. "Where are we going for lunch?"

Silence befell them till the undisputed sound of Duo's voice called out from behind the two ladies in front of Wufei and Zech's office door. "How come there is a cool draft coming from your office Zechs and Wu-chan?"

That gained a growl from the black eyed boy and an eye roll from the blonde. "The gigs up. He knows to much."

Violet eyes glared at the blonde and walked past Noin and Sally. Then it all became clear to him. "You've been keeping the fact that you had the AC on today?!"

"Shhhhh... Not so loud! We don't need the entire office in here, Maxwell!" Noin laughed.

"That's not very nice, Wu-chan! I think... I am beginning to think you hate me!" Duo feigned tears.

"That doesn't work on me, Maxwell." The Chinese boy stated calmly.

Another tenor's tone entered the room with a sigh. "It won't stop him from trying, Chang."

"That does it. Everybody in the office and close the damned door. Next thing you know another person will come in!" Zechs sighed.

Heero walked in and shut the door behind him with a sound click. Duo was still hassling emotions from the poor flustered Chinese boy. A small smile found its way to the perfect soldiers lips. Some things would never change and there was great comfort in that. "I came hunting for Maxwell and I see lunch is the topic?"

"Pizza! We can order pizza and sit and cool down." Duo smiled making himself at home on Wufei's chair.

Grimaces were his reply. Zechs offered, "Chinese?"

A general yes from around the room from Heero, Sally and Wufei. Duo snorted. "No fair, Zechs that was cheating in the first degree!"

Wufei merely smirked and said, "Cheating? No that was tactical planning Maxwell."

Violet laughed while Duo merely snorted and muttered, "Tactical planning my grandmother, Wu-chan!"

After a few more insults and a threat of Wufei using his gun on Duo, Chinese was the solution. Walking through the door Wufei merely muttered under his breath, "How come I get dragged into playing go getter with you Marquise when I distinctly remember this being *your* idea?"

"The Maxwell is a manipulative creature. 'Sides, we can forget to pick up utensils for him, right? I mean you can't expect us to remember everything?" Zechs chuckled as they walked down the blocks to their usual Chinese pick up place.

"Hn." Was all the black eyed boy replied.

"That's what I love working with you for, you're a man of many words." The Sank blonde teased, not truly expecting a reaction nor a reply. It was strange but even with all the loosening up the former L5 pilot had gone through, he still maintained the mask and distance he had in the wars. Zechs never expected the boy to chatter like Duo, but Wufei was all together a strange boy.

"You ordering or I?" the said boy interrupted his wandering thoughts.

"Huh?" Zechs replied still a bit gone in dreamland from his thoughts.

A sigh. "Never mind..." the boy dragged out and walked up to order.

Zechs watched with some appreciation of the boy. Not that it would ever lead to anything... He and Noin were loosely seeing each other, in the loosest sense of that word. Occasional stress relieving fuck was more the term, but his upbringing enforced the use of tact. His silent and moody partner was probably one of the soundest things in his life. He wasn't thrilled about working with the boy when Lady Une assigned them on a case. And it just went downhill from there, and that was three months ago...

But as they say, one thing leads to another, and lo and behold. They worked well together. Extremely well. The boy walked back. "Fifteen minutes." He said unnecessarily.

"You know, I probably would have known that if you didn't order in another language, Wufei." Zechs teased.

"Hn."

The blonde laughed and leaned across the little booth they would wait for the food in. "I mean I know it's a Chinese food place, but really. You don't *have* to order in Cantonese. I swear you and Sally do it to impress me."

That brought a disgruntled blush to the younger boys cheeks.

A devious look slipped into those icy eyes and he pressed further, "But it does impress me more when you say it, Wufei. That soft tenor of yours drifts over the words so..." Zechs almost chocked at the look the other boy's face held.

"What?!" the Asian boy sputtered. Then Zechs burst out into an appeal of laughter and he huffed indignantly.

"Sorry, Wufei. But Duo is right. It is too much fun to tease you..."

"Hn."

Silence covered them again and they merely sat and awaited their food. Zechs played with the napkins, folding them this way and that with the hopes that they would turn into something. He hated the periods of long silence he and his young partner had the uncanny habit of falling into. It was a daily thing, thought. He just had to learn to accept the fact that unless the black haired boy considered it necessary, talking casually would not happen.

The former Sank prince was thrilled that the food finally came. He was going to go crazy if he had to sit in that silence another moment. His napkin folding venture turned into nothing but a few piles of crumbled napkins while Wufei smugly grinned and placed an intricate crane on the table. "Show off..." Zechs muttered, eyeing the napkin bird.

He was feeling very restless as of late. It was a strange dilemma for him to be in. Usually, he had patience to spare and even then some. The past week though he had been worse than Maxwell with all his squirming...

"Food!! Food! FOOD!" Duo giggled and yanked cartons from their bags. "About time I was wasting away, ne Hee-chan?"

"Maxwell, we were gone not even twenty minutes." Wufei sighed and placed the food on the unstable table it seems had been pulled from its usual corner.

Noin grabbed her chopsticks, "Why do we always eat in here anyway? It crowded. You two need a bigger office. Our office is huge!"

Sally rolled her eyes, "Maybe we eat here because there are nearly dead and very dead bodies strewn about ours?"

Noin muffled a chocking snort, "I told you not to tell anyone about that! Geez, Sally... Give our sick pastimes away why don't you!"

Wufei coughed and nearly died from the blush that covered his face. Zechs muttered something about "Academy days" and necrophilia. Noin merely shrugged and said, "Hey if he's cute!"

Sally mentioned something about always being stiff.

And so when lunch...

~~~~'~~@@~~'~~~~

A knock came from their door and their boss walked in. They both stood and Zechs smiled, "Lady Une." It was strange for her to see them so early... she, if she ever came around to see them, came before they left...

"Hello boys. Sit, please. Thank you." She grabbed a chair and sat as well, before doing so though she placed a fairly large stuffed envelope on Wufei's desk.

"New assignment?" Wufei asked looking at the envelope.

"Perhaps. Something that dropped down from my superiors to give to some of better detectives. Rather strange case, but I figured at least it could peak one of your interests." She replied in a light manner.

"Peak our interest? How so?" Zechs asked, leaning back on his chair awaiting her answer.

"We aren't classifying this as a case... yet. Nothing on the records, just digging around for some information." She pushed her glasses back up her nose.

"Then what is it? You have never kept us in the dark before..." Zechs asked, sneaking a glance at his partner. Wufei seemed to be caught looking at the envelope.

Lady Une stood and headed towards the door. "I suggest you to make it a night, go somewhere, grab dinner, look over the assignment. If you are up for it... well, give me a call tomorrow on my private line. Good Afternoon!" and with that she walked out of their office.

The two of them just sat there watching the woman walk from their office and close their door. Une rarely gave them an assignment personally. Usually an envelope on their desks, or a phone message. Few times they came through emails...

"Did you find that disturbing?" Zechs asked Wufei, his eyes not leaving the door.

"Some what..." the tenor voice replied.

The phone rang and Wufei looked up at the blonde who gestured that it was all his. Restraining a sigh, a slender hand picked up the phone and asked, "Preventers Office Headquarters, High European Branch, Detective Chang speaking..."

A familiar voice replied, "Chang."

A small smile graced the Chinese boy's lips as he answered, "Barton. How are you?"

"Decent. Can you slip out and come down here?" the usually silent man asked.

"Where?" Wufei asked picking up and twirling a nibbled on pencil between his fingers.

"Rue 7, downtown Paris. France."

At his partner's look, Wufei nodded. "Yeah, we can come. Anything wrong?"

"Is Quatre alright?" Zechs called out over his partner's shoulder. One day they would have to invest in a speaker phone...

A small smile gleamed in the French boys eyes, "Tell Zechs that Quatre is fine. I tried calling Yuy and Maxwell-"

"They were called away during lunch." Wufei cut in. "We'll be there in... about an hour, depending on the trains."

"Sounds good, we'll have someone meet you at the station. I had Quatre fax you some information. Barton out." Trowa replied.

"Sounds good. Chang out." And he hung up the phone.

Zechs snickers as his partner replaced the receiver back in its cradle.

"What now Marquise?" the boy asked with a heavy sigh. The blonde had been getting stranger and stranger as of late. He wasn't sure if it had something to do with Noin and Sally "seeing" more of each other or not. He resisted another sigh. It was his partner's personal life and he would leave it along until the man wanted to share...

"I still find absolutely endearing that all of you end your phone conversations as if you were still piloting." Blue eyes danced with general amusement.

"We... We do?" Wufei asked, blinking. He never noticed it before... Then again, the former OZ solider always noticed the oddest things about them.

"All of you too! It's always 'Yuy out' and 'Barton out' and even Quatre and Duo do it. I figured you would have noticed. It's rather... cute." Zechs smiled and nabbed his keys.

Grabbing his coat, he crossed their office to the door. "Coming?"

"H...Hai!" The black eyed boy replied swiftly. Yanking his coat off the hook and remembering to take the envelope Une gave to them off his desk before running out to catch up to his partner.

"Lock the door?" the older man asked, waiting at the fax machines.

"Yeah." Wufei nodded and waited for the information to come.

It screeched from the old machine a few pages of directions, closely followed by reservations for the train. The Chinese boy rolled his velvet eyes, "You figure he would remember that this is already paid for us..."

A hand rested on his shoulder and Wufei blinked. A jolt went through his body and he shook it off. He *hated* people touching him... And Zechs never seemed to care about that... The soft deep voice, shook him from his wandering thought. "With all the crap that boy needs to remember, he forgets mundane things. Speaking from knowledge and experience, it was probably ingrained in him with his upbringing. He can't help it." Long fingers picked up the stack of steadily streaming forth papers.

Wufei bristled slightly. It wasn't as if he wasn't from the same breeding as Marquise and Winner. He knew what was expected of them... He just never mentioned his family title to them... "Rather like your damned habit of opening the door for me?" he smiled in a teasing tone.

Zechs chuckled. Handing over the good sized bundle of paper that Quatre faxed them to Wufei, he held the door open for his partner. Wufei merely rolled his eyes but walked through Letting the heavy wooden door shut behind him, Zechs added, "I was taught to hold the door for any pretty creature."

The Chinese boy sputtered and growled in frustration. "Zechs!" he managed to get out.

A large hand yanked on his ponytail, "And you are very pretty, Wufei."

"Don't call me pretty!" came his indignant reply coupled with heated embarrassment. He *never* went through these problems during the war. Even Maxwell knew when to stop.

A blonde eyebrow raised slightly. "Why not? Don't you think you are?"

Wufei halted to a stop and glared at the other man. "Look, you might not be getting any from Noin or any other female in your life, but don't ever, *ever* flirt with me Marquise!"

Zechs looked at his partner in some surprise. He gently brushed a stray lock from the boys face. "I'll stop under two conditions. One you respond to them violently or two when you begin to remove that mask you hide under." And he continued walking.

The Chinese boy ran a few steps to catch up. A glare firmly upon his features. "I don't hide under a mask, Marquise."

A soft laugh came from the man next to him. "I am right and you know it."

They reached the station, which was only a few blocks from their building, both still in one piece but silent. "Which one is it?" Wufei asked running his eyes along the platforms and signs, searching for a familiar language. He hated one thing about working at the Preventers Headquarters in Europe. He was damned to read most of the signs...

"This way." The tall blond replied. He took a soft grip on the boys coat and led him through the mingling people and towards their train. A large silver machine. Wufei gave it a strange look before practically being pulled along like a child behind his partner.

"It doesn't bite." Zechs replied to unspoken thoughts.

A small bit of pink scurried along bronze cheeks. "I don't go on trains often... That's all."

"Ah."

They walked along the aisles till Zechs picked two adjoining and unoccupied seats. "Window or aisle?"

"Umm... whichever." Black eyes replied softly. Zechs mutely took his bag and then his partners and placed over their seats. He briefly took out the stack Quatre sent them before scooting into his seat, next to the window. Wufei sat down and looked around curiously.

It had been rare he had taken a train as he mentioned. Most of them since he and most of his fellow former pilots worked in this place with the Preventers.

"She is a nice train, nothing like the old ones I use to see as a child." Zechs said, ice eyes blurred with past memories. "There was a train, it was the three hundredth anniversary of her run and I was on her as a child often that year... I would have been ... Ten?" He looked down and over at his partner. Those almond shaped eyes blinking with curiosity. "So this is how to gain the boys attention... " he thought sweetly enjoying the calm look surrounding the boy's usually schooled features.

"Yes ten. Relena was... six." Smiling more at the not so discreet rolling of those chocolate warmed eyes. "The feeling is mutual. Anyways, my father took us on this beautiful antique train. Steel black engine, fueled by coal. The Oriental Express. A masterpiece if there ever was one among trains. Sleek and carrying the aire of the era she was built in. Decadent and cool, brandished in mahogany and dark oaks. Chinese and foreign eastern d�cor... She was amazing."

They were pulled from the spell settling around them when the train shook to a start. Conductors moved through asking for tickets. "Excusez-moi, monsieur?" he asked upon reaching them. <2>

Wufei blinked and looked over at Zechs, who seemingly happened to be not only his partner but quickly adding translator to the bundle.

" Oui nos r�servations ont �t� faites par M. Quatre Raberba
Winner. Aux noms de Chang et Marquise ? " Zechs purred out in perfect French to the man. <3>

A flip of the notes and a few quick ticket punches later and they were underway for their lightning fast trip to Paris.

"I hate living here..." muttered Wufei under his breath after the Conductor was definitely out of hearing range.

"I was always under the impression you spoke a plethora of languages." Zechs replied, diligently sorting through their stack of papers.

"I do. Any Asian language. I was not ... trained in other languages that... were not deemed important." He didn't want himself slipping information about his past to his partner. Wufei was sure that Zechs was probably not interested anyways.

"Ah. Trained? I didn't give your "Doctors" the thought of teaching languages to all of you. I was under the impression you learned them earlier." A hand brushed back stray blond strands off his shoulder.

"I did." Damn. The man was insufferably good at making him state the truth.

"Figured. Want to read through these?" And offered a stack of papers to the boy next to him. Controlling and smothering the erge to sigh, bronze fingers took them.

For the next half an hour all the noise that they made against the whirring of the train was pens making marks and circling clusters of words. An occasional "hn" or "hm" filtered into their sphere, but silence settled soon after.

Wufei sighed, his head pounding from all the words. He was ready to hurt his friends. Vampires? Was Trowa and Quatre joking? It was probably some insane cultists running around trying to scare the locals. No, instead he was reading through more than dozens of folklore and urban myths about Paris and their "vampire".

"You alright?" Zechs asked watching the slight annoyance on his partner's face as the boy massaged his temples.

"Forgive me. I thought they were talking about a *real* treat, Zechs. Not some rubbish about vampires and occultist nonsense." Wufei snorted, placing his gone through stack securely in his backpack.

He took the moment to stretch, popping all his spine and relieving tension he didn't realize was there. And quickly sat back down.

Zechs smiled. "Ah, well I am sure they don't believe it either, but probably getting us ready for the locals. Trust me, being European myself, I used to hear hundreds of these stories you and I have been reading most of my life. And I am sure the reason was serious."

"Ah..." the lithe boy replied.

~~~~'~~@@~~'~~~~

"Messieurs, vous �tes attendus par M. Winner ? Veuillez venir avec moi."
A lanky man next to a limo called out to them. Zechs nodded and Wufei followed after, eyeing the man slightly. He never trusted anybody. <4>

"Vous." Zechs replied and giving Wufei a slight annoyed glance.

Wufei nodded and stopped his scrutiny. "Vous." He imitated the words perfectly. Sliding in after the blonde before the driver closed the door.

~~~~'~~@@~~'~~~~~

After a short but quiet drive into Paris, they got out of the car and headed out to find their friends. Zechs walked to a nearby store keeper. "Je?" Upon receiving the man's attention he politely continued. "Oui, nous recherchons la septi�me rue? Paris Centre??" <5>

The keeper nodded slowly, wiping his old hands in his apron. He pointed his stumpy finger out and replied in a deep voice. "Oui monsieur. Trois Blocs et tournez � gauche. Marchez tout droit pendant quelques minutes." <6>

"Merci." Zechs smiled and motioned to his smaller partner. "We're a few blocks away. Come on. We are gonna be a tad longer than we first said, but they can't complain. We came, right?"

"Hn." And the bronze skinned boy walked with the blonde.

After six or so blocks a familiar blonde came into view. "Wufei! Zechs!" he called as they crossed the street.

Quatre moved towards them and smiled brilliantly. "Its good to see you!"

Silently as ever Trowa joined them. "Glad you could join us."

"We weren't busy. You saved us from a day of sheer boredom. We should thank you. Besides, it's been ages since I have been in Paris." Zechs replied shaking their hands.

Turquoise eyes gleamed as they looked over and slightly down on the Chinese boy. "Wufei!" And ignoring Wufei's look, grabbed the boy for a tight hug.

Zechs chuckled out loud at the crossed look of happiness and shock that sprung up on that bronze face. Even Trowa had a gleam of amusement in his eyes.

"Look at you! You look good! Happier!" Quatre gleamed smiling at his dear friend.

"Shorter." Teased Zechs upon noticing the Winner boy had grown slightly since he last saw him.

"Baka." Snorted Wufei, scowling at the Sank man for pointing out an obviously taboo point.

"Come, Come!" The angelic blonde smiled and hooked his arm through the Chinese boy's arm and led them off. "You wouldn't believe the hype this has caused. I only called you, because, one I can't technically *do* things you can, right?" he added with a mischievous wink.

Trowa snorted, "Like it ever stops you." He replied in a light hearted tone.

The two taller men trailed a bit behind watching Quatre press anything and everything out of the former L5 pilot. "So how bad is it?" Zechs regarded the silent banged boy.

"Pretty bad. We called because of who it was. We hadn't seen her, and personally I wish Maxwell was here." Trowa replied, emerald eyes carefully watching his lover.

"Ah. Who was it?" Zechs asked.

"Hirde. It wasn't easy, let me tell you." Trowa remarked, then looking over at the platinum blonde eyes asking to hold off anymore questions.

Quatre maintained a healthy chatter with a barely cooperative Wufei till they reached a large hotel about twenty minutes later. Turquoise eyes reflected pain and some misery. "We're here."

Pressing through the glass doors, Zechs and Wufei found themselves in an overly gaudy interior. "Ah. France." Zechs muttered looking at the ornate interior.

Wufei elbowed the blue eyed man in the stomach. Zechs smiled at Trowa who gave him the look. "Ornate, gaudy, and wonderfully romantic." Zechs grinned.

Emerald eyes rolled but otherwise impassive.

An officer walked over to them and pardoned himself. "Excusez-moi, Monsieurs?"

Trowa turned and shook the officers hand. "Bonjour. Je suis Trowa Barton et voici les repr�sentants de mes associ�s, les Preventers." <7>

The young female officer smiled and nodded. "Je vois. Merci d'�tre venus. Nous sommes assez pr�occup�s par ce cas. Les m�dias s'en sont empar�s et le public n'est pas satisfait." <8>

She shook their hands with a small smile. Quatre noticed and felt the large discomfort radiating from Wufei. It dawned on him that the boy had no clue what they were saying. He silently berated himself for a faux pas and jumped in with a sweet smile. "Parlez-vous japonais?" With her indignant look her eyes crossed the Chinese boy naturally. Quatre pushed. "Ou peut-�tre ces officiers parlent-ils anglais ? Nous ne parlons pas tous couramment l'anglais."<9>

With more effort than it should have been she replied in a snotty tone. "Yes. English. I should have figured."

They followed her, Quatre and Trowa overlooking the embarrassment upon their Chinese friends face. He obviously was a bit upset. Quatre caught the woman's eyes and in a tone that bordered sweet and psychotic, smiled to her, "J'observerais mes mani�res , Madame. Vous vous adressez � officers appartenant � une organisation sup�rieure." His eyes promised everything worse than death if she continued with her faux pas.<10>

Her violet eyes blinked, and involuntarily she nodded. "This... This way, gentlemen. The scene has been only slightly touched by my men." They were lead through the hallways to a large open room with columns and vaulted ceilings. "There was a large celebratory ball late night, Monsieurs. The killings seem to have been done to the victims during the height of the evening. No witnesses and no suspects are to found. We interviewed all in attendance and no one knew of anything."

Her long fingers pointed to along the marble and gold gilded wall. "Those were the victims found. All were dead, a large loss of blood in all. Anything else, I will be around. Any of my officers should be able to locate me. Excusez-moi."

They turned their attention to the line up of bodies along the wall. "I think the decorating needs some work, but I am impressed with the attention to detail." Zechs muttered eyeing the tell tale signs of blood puddles staining the white marble floor. "Hope this is covered by there insurance. Blood is a bitch to remove from anything white."

Wufei snorted. "Its not that hard."

Quatre looked at him. "You probably glared at the stain and it jumped off."

"Hn." Wufei replied and turned his attention to the bodies where Zechs and Trowa had already moved. He paused and then walked. Quatre moved next to him. He smiled and refrained from asking the question he knew would annoy the Winner heir.

Zechs pulled on plastic gloves and crouched down and looked at the bodies. "Time of death?"

The banged boy joined the former OZ pilot on the floor and replied. "They assume between midnight and 4 am. We won't know until the autopsy reports and that will take days knowing them."

The black haired boy walked next to them and leaned down to. "We can get a sample to Sally and Noin and see what they can pull up, ne?"

"Good idea... Quatre?" Trowa looked over and his love nodded. "I'll see what I can get forwarded to them."

"Wait." Wufei stood up and reached into his bag. He tossed a plastic card and a clip to the turquoise eyed boy. "Now you're 'official'." He said with a small smirk.

Quatre chuckled and clipped on the Preventer's badge that Wufei tossed him. "Thank you, Wufei." And headed off to get things moving towards their main office.

Meanwhile, Zechs and Trowa were searching over the victim's for anything that could be useful. "Aren't vampire's supposed to leave fang marks in the neck or something?" Zechs muttered.

"Perhaps they weren't well read cult killers." Wufei sighed and crouched next to them, pulling on gloves as well.

"Great. Stupid killers. They are the worse." Zechs muttered and sighed. "Nothing... No marks... so signs of struggle... Not even ripped or rustled clothing. Either they were killed from the inside or the killer/killers were extremely careful..."

"Tests that came in before you arrived showed no signs of drugs in the blood streams and that their blood was practically but completely depleted from their bodies. I had them retest the samples and sent them to other places..." Trowa replied.

"We can get that stuff back from Sally and them within a few days..." Wufei murmured eyeing the corpses. Something was strange about their deaths... Someone or a few someones took a lot of caution to ensure that no one could blatantly *see* how they killed these people.

As his partner and Trowa moved on to examine the other bodies more closely, he stayed and stared at the first victim along the wall. A pretty girl who he knew vaguely from brief introduction during the first war... Hirde.

Barton and Winner were correct, he barely recognized her now. And was slightly glad that Maxwell wasn't here, though he wasn't sure how close he and Hirde were. She wasn't touched but she seemed deathly pale. And lost a lot of weight... Too much weight...

He knelt down and pulled down the chocker, no vampire marks, he didn't think there would have been. Her hair had been dyed a reddish auburn hue sometime... She really didn't look too healthy...

Then again, she was lying dead against a wall in France. He made the mental note to have Yuy hack into her accounts and travel logs later and figure out why she was in France.

He tilted her face slightly, trying to see any other changes. He blinked and then narrowed his eyes. Shaking his head, he figured he had to have been wrong. He gently tried to open her eyes, something that wouldn't be done unless someone figured the cause of death was a knife in the eye.

Velvet eyes grew dark when her eyes wouldn't open. He pressed a little harder on the lids to attempt to push them up. Nothing... As if... He moved to the next victim. Pushing against the lids... His eyelids opened. Well he could be damned...

He fell back and balanced himself on the heels of his boots. Where else could the victims... He opened the mouth of the pretty boy. He pulled out his flashlight and shone it in. Other than having horrid breath for a dead man... Blood on the teeth... Inside the teeth.. by the tongue line.

This was strange... The next victim was another boy... His eyes opened... No stains around his tongue...

"Zechs?" he called out while he moved on to the victim.

The said blonde's head looked up at the distressed tone his partner's voice took. Did the boy sound shaken slightly? He snorted, that would be highly unlikely. "Coming." He pulled himself to a stand and walked over. "What?"

"Zechs... We are going to need extensive autopsies... I think I figured out the loss of blood." Wufei whispered as he stood up and faced the blonde.

"Are you alright, Wufei?" Zechs asked and moved closer, noticing something had to been distress the boy when he said nothing about their relative proximity.

"Hirde's eyes can't open... They have been closed... the next, the boy... blood stains along his teeth... " Wufei explained.

"Meaning? I am not following your theory, Wufei..." he replied in a soft soothing tone.

"Zechs..." Black eyes met ice blue. "The killers took blood from the least obvious places... We have to get these bodies to our medical teams at Headquarters... Have them check the scalps, eyes, in the ears, under the tongue... um... and other unobvious places..."

"Meaning, you think needles were used to drain them of most of their blood... Makes sense... Smart Wufei." Zechs smiled and reached out to smooth back a loose strand of raven tresses.

Trowa looked up as Quatre stood next to him. Though his loves attention diverged else where. Standing, he followed those turquoise orbs to the general direction. Ah... "I see." Trowa replied. Catching the small moment between the two partners.

After waiting, they joined their fellow comrades. "Wufei might have figured it out." Zechs waved over an officer. "Oui, pouvez-vous faire venir l'officier sup�rieur ? C'est � propos des causes du d�c�s. Merci ." <11>

The officer disappeared and Wufei mumbled, "I think they pulled blood out of the bodies through a needle. Hirde's eyes won't open... and small things... But what I can't explain is the usual paleness and general corpse thinness they all have..."

"Hmmm... Well, all the information and blood samples were headed out to Sally and Noin..." Quatre put out.

"You requested me?" The same woman from earlier asked, with a slight clipped tone.

"Yes. There might be more to this than expected. I request the bodies, all the bodies be placed in the hands of the Preventers. This case is now under our jurisdiction, though your people's investigation may continue." He handed her a card. "Me and my partner's card. Call with any information. The general address is on the back, We want the bodies to go there for medical interrogation, understood?"

"Perfectly." She replied. "Anything else?"

"No. We have your number from earlier. We'll be in touch. Thank you." Trowa nodded.

Quatre glanced at his wrist. "As morbid as this sounds, anyone for sightseeing and then diner?"

Zechs smiled while both Trowa and Wufei sighed. "We would love to. There isn't much we can do now, anyways..."

~~~'~~@@~~'~~~~

Later that evening, after their host demanded a change of clothes and dragged them all to the fashion district and promptly stolen the poor Chinese boy's hairband, they found themselves in a warm caf� for diner.

Wufei sighed and blinked at the menu. Zechs smiled and sweetly pointed out things for him. The blonde felt for the black haired boy, he was feeling a ... little insecure because everyone else had the grasp of the language...

"Serveur? Oui nous sommes pr�ts � passer commande." Quatre motioned to their waitress. <12>

A pretty young woman walked over and pulled out her pen and pad. "Bonsoir, messieurs et Madame." She smiled.

Trowa looked up at Zechs, quirking his eyebrow. The Sank prince shrugged. Quatre ignored and smiled sweetly at their server, "Nous commencerons avec de la salade, et nous passerond au potage. Quel est le plat du jour?"

Petite fingers brushed back her red curls and sweetly she suggested, "Les fruits de mer, monsieur. Ils sont excellents et accompagn�s d'une sauce l�g�re au vin blanc."

Zechs whispered to Wufei who nodded. With everyone in agreement, the angelic blonde ordered, "Puis donc quatres plats du jour aux fruits de mer. Et une bouteille de vos vins les plus fins."

When the pen finished with its scribbles, she nodded and replied, "Oui monsieur." And went to give the order to the kitchen. <13>

"Will you be staying the night?" Trowa asked after their wine was approved of and poured.

"We will be now. I will give Une a call tomorrow and I'll have to make a run back to Headquarters and my apartment to pick up a few things. But it is safe to say we will be in Paris for a few days." Zechs replied watching the atmosphere circle around him. He always did love Paris.

Wufei nodded in agreement and then looked at them and the three looked the other way. "She called me a girl didn't she, Winner?"

Quatre chuckled, slightly embarrassed. "Um... Maybe?"

Slit eyes narrowed and glared at the poor boy. "Can I have my hair tie back now. And to quote Maxwell, 'I told you so.' Hand it over."

"And miss our server flirting with you. Never." The tall blonde laughed, the candle light dancing in his eyes.

"Zechs..." Wufei glared heatedly at his partner.

~~~'~~@@~~'~~~~

Dinner had finally finished, after undue amounts of flirting focused on the poor Chinese boy. He barely spent more than five minutes at a time without one comment or another being pressed his way. "I am shaving my head." Wufei muttered darkly at his overly amused associate.

"Don't be like that. You just happened to look very..." the man searched for the word.

"Very much like a onna?" The black eyed boy growled darkly. He sighed after slipping the card key into their door. A waiting the green light flash, then proceeded into the room.

"Not quite. Effeminate was the word I was thinking of... You looked nice thought..." he reassured the boy and flipped on the light switch. And regretted it.

Wufei sighed softly. He was *not* sharing a bed with Zechs. He had decided he had been more than usually amiable for himself and declared. "I get the couch."

"Wufei..." the slightly older man started.

"You're taller, I'm shorter. It's settled. I'm giving Maxwell and Yuy a call." Wufei dropped his bag on the floor and pulled out his vid phone extension. Attaching it, he noticed Zechs giving him a look. "What?"

"Why are you calling them?"

"I thought Maxwell should know about his friend's death. I would rather him hear it from you or I than in some paper." The boy murmured and dialed his friend's apartment.

The familiar violet eyes popped up followed by auburn tresses. "Oi! Wu-chan! What do I owe this pleasure?"

"Hello Maxwell." Wufei sighed, trying hard not to crack into a full fledged smirk.

"You'll never guess what!" Duo blurted, practically bouncing on the other end.

"Hold that thought... We, that is Zechs and I have some disappointing news for you..." Wufei started, wringing his fingers. He hated nervous gestures, but he was never good at breaking bad news to people.

"You and Zechs aren't lovers?" The fair skinned boy asked, feigning innocence.

Bronze cheeks blossomed into crimson flames and the boy sputtered. "WHAT?!?!"

"Duo." A deeper tenor was heard and another hand pulled the troublesome boy from view. "Gomen Wufei. He... " Heero took that moment to actually look at his friend.

Wufei was blushing and stuttering. He looked like a deer caught in proverbial headlights. A smile cracked on his lips when the aforementioned man gently placed a hands on those bronze shoulders.

Duo sat his chin on his lovers shoulder and with out taking his eyes off the vid screen whispered to his partner's ears only, "I couldn't resist. He's so god wonderfully cute when his defenses are down. They are just eye candy. Pure and pretty eye candy."

Ice blue eyes twinkled, "You might want to learn to lower the volume on your phone, Duo. We can hear you loud and clear."

The violet eyed boy smiled and purred, though his cheeks tinged pink.

"But seriously, Wufei wanted to call about something we saw today... " The tanned blonde continued.

Wufei sighed. The blush finally worked itself away, almost. It remained because of where his partners hand was resting making an attempt to sooth his embarrassment. "Gomen nasai, Duo... Hirde's dead."

Heero blinked rich Prussian eyes and Duo practically mimicked the movement himself. After they looked quizzingly at each other, their eyes returned in confusion.

"That's impossible, Wufei..." Heero began.

"Nanda?" Wufei asked, sitting up quickly and ignoring the strange sound his partner made as he bumped against him.

"She stopped by the office late this afternoon..." Duo replied.

"Masaka..." Wufei began.

"Duo, I know who we saw. Trowa and Quatre saw her body as well. Hirde was dead in Paris... Has been for ay least twenty four hours..." Zechs replied calmly, though his thoughts were anything but.

Duo straightened up. "You are serious. You positive it was her?"

Wufei nodded gravely.

Heero looked over at Duo and the braided boy nodded. "You guys gonna be up for a while? We can be there in about 3 or so hours. This sounds serious..."

Zechs nodded. "We have some things to go over. Could you do us both a favor?"

"We'll grab some clothes and crap for you guys. I swear, I am becoming your mother!" Duo snorted.

Heero moved to the side and muttered, "I traced your Hotel address... I'll give you a call from my cell phone when we are near you guys. Have the bodies been sent here yet?"

"No. Probably tomorrow morning. We can check it out tonight if you want." Wufei replied.

"Sounds good. See you guys in a few. Maxwell out." And the violet eyed boy smiled slightly and hung up.

A long bronze finger switched off his side and he just stared down at the blank screen. "Do you ever get the feeling that you are being left out of the loop on something?"

The blonde nodded. "We still have that envelope Une left us. Maybe that will explain something, right?"

A slim black brow quirked, "Or confuse us even more. I'm betting on mine."

~~~~'~~@@~~'~~~~

An hour later and the hotel room was covered with the files and photos Une had given them. Slides hanging on paperclips on the lamp shades. Photographs taped haphazardly on the wall. Folk tales, book lists... "This has to be the most eclectic and absolutely useless envelope I have ever received!" the blonde exclaimed tossing more printouts on the room's already messy desk. He wanted to add that these things were not usual from the woman, that he had seen strange occult photos and papers since he could remember from that woman... And another person, but those were memories that had to brushed aside for the moment... Too much pain to dwell in the past.

Warmed eyes glanced his way, peering over the glasses balancing on the bridge of a nose. "Maybe she lost that helpful personality after... certain events?" He wanted it to be joke and pulled back. It was a rare moment that he had spoken without thinking.

Panic whipped through the former Lighting Count's eyes, something akin to absolute terror. "Don't even joke about that! You didn't have to work with her when she was stark raving mad! Don't get me wrong, she's a brilliant woman, but a few quarts short of a gallon..."

"And you're implying she's sane after going through this... crap? Zechs! We've read through how many damned occult files? How many 'vampire' slayings and killings? And you are implying she's better?"

That brought an almost chuckle from the man. "Okay, she's a loony. The fact is she is our loony boss. Special cases my ass."

Wufei glared in an amused manner. "Your call. Personally I would rather toss this shit out the window."

"Not a believer, are we?" the man replied, turning his attention to more files on the desk. Pushing them around, wishing the purpose would come forth. He wasn't a man of logic and reason that Chang was fully. He was quick and logical, but perhaps it had been from hanging around his slightly older friend and on and off lover that led him to buy into some of the strange mysticism of the world.

"Hn." The Chinese boy snorted, rolling his eyes.

"I bet you didn't even believe in Santa." Zechs muttered with some discontent. The boy was never to be considered his polar opposite. No, they were too alike that it often disturbed him. But, the god damn it the boy had no imagination...

"I never celebrated it really as a child." His eyes looked ancient for a mere second before restoring themselves to thoughtful chocolate in the warm orange yellow glow of the lamps. "My first connection with the holiday was when Maxwell took it upon himself to 'bring us together' I believe during the war. And by then I was a little old to fall for nonsense stories."

"Figured as much." He replied dully.

Wufei sat up slightly regarding his partner. "You aren't really considering this case are you Zechs?"

"Maybe..." the older man shrugged carelessly.

The boy flopped back with a disbelieving snort. "Why?"

"Because."

"Zechs!" the boy glared heatedly. The man drove him to homicide so easily.

"I, personally, feel shunned." A new voice entered the room.

He was greeted with to guns flung his way. Giving them a devil-may-care smirk he was infamous for he strolled into the room, not even flinching at the guns.

"Maxwell!" Wufei cried in disbelief.

"Hee-chan was able to get the information, and we decided to invite ourselves up." Duo smiled and crossed the room and looked down at the lithe Chinese boy draped in the chair.

"And you! You don't call *me* by my first name!" He feigned indignity. "Yet, its obviously alright to refer to Marquise by his given name. I'm hurt."

Heero snorted and yanked on his love's braid. "Leave him alone."

Violet eyes twinkled in amusement. "Make me."

Zechs sighed, "You wanna see the bodies?"

"Such tact. Yes, that's we came for. Here are your bags." He dropped them next to the bed.

"Yes. This could clear up where we'll be for the next few days. Une will be here by breakfast tomorrow." The mussed brown haired boy intoned.

"Une? Whatever for?" Wufei asked.

"She saw Hirde too. And is curious." Heero replied tilting his head to the side. "You positive it was her?"

"Positive." Wufei replied with a stern nod of his head.

"Even Quatre and Trowa were inclined to agree. Shouldn't we call them?" Zechs asked looking at his partner who was under assault from his long haired friend.

"We'll call them from the scene if we have to, shall we go?" a serious voice replied.

Getting their coats, the detectives followed Heero and Duo into the hall. "The commander mentioned there was always a few guards on duty, its about four blocks from here."

~~~~'~~@@~~'~~~~~

Duo watched as it seems Heero and Zechs shared their thoughts on the bodies and their apparent theory on causes of death. He repressed a sigh, his love did always have a taste for macabre... Apparently Zechs did as well.

He turned slightly to watch the Chinese boy at his side as the two of them followed in the rear. He really wondered crossed the secretive and silent boy's mind on calling him. It was kind and sweet, even thoughtful. He would have expected it from Quatre before his dark skinned friend.

It was so *un* Wufei. Not that the boy was nasty or mean, he wasn't expecting the sheer thoughtfulness of the boy's gesture. Whether Wufei was aware of it or not...

Then again, Chang never ceased to amaze him in the most curious of ways. He still was sure what to make of the L5 pilot's workings with Marquise. That had caught him off the most. He was usually so good at reading his friends.

The only constellation was that none of them saw Marquise and Chang working out so well together. And, while he only worked with them on rare occasions, he processed enough information from all the shared lunches in the office. Wufei was extremely comfortable around the delicious beauty.

He once discussed it with his blonde friend and Quatre replied that he couldn't fathom their relationship either. And the desert boy had always such a knack for understanding situations of the human sort.

Then again many changes were befalling their usually silent and serious friend. He was loosening up in how many ways? Duo couldn't begin to count them. Relaxing around his fellow Gundam pilots... It had taken a lot and he instinctively knew the boy harbored guilt like there was no tomorrow.

But in small ways he would tease back... The first time he cracked his smile nearly floored himself and Heero. It was so undeniably *cute* that it shocked them speechless.

Then the office teasing and the sexual connotation the boy had responded with when he had joked about Chang's cavorting with his love. *That* had frightened him. Which lead him to the one question that circled his mind for the last few months...

What the hell was Marquise doing to the boy to make Wufei normal?

He mused slightly... The thought had evaded him for months. He actually hoped, which was wrong and sick of him to hope for, that the girl was Hirde. He wanted the chance to work with this duo... True he would miss his perfect lover, but with Relena's big bang approaching, one of them had to guard her, and damned if he was letting himself get dragged into it.

He had such a brief conversation with Une... He wanted to ask something else, but it seems it would have to wait till tomorrow... well, later that morning when she arrived...

"Anything wrong, Maxwell?" the silent boy asked, looking over at the violet eyed boy who seemingly looked lost in his thoughts.

"Huh? Nothing much Wu-chan." Duo replied with his candidate smile.

"Thank you for bringing our things." He added after a moment of thought. One could never be careful enough around that smiling American. Anything was a sexual invitation and he hated getting snared into one. Beside the point he always lost...

"Not a prob! Speaking of which..." hooking arms with the boy who promptly blushed at the contact, "we need to go shopping. With you adorable looks you are not allowed to wear boring clothes! And granted they might be wonderfully traditional, and silk clings in such a loving way to your ass-"

"MAXWELL!" Wufei gasped in cheek burning embarrassment. He couldn't' believe that had left the ranting American's mouth...

Heero snorted and rolled his eyes in amusement. Leave it to Duo to mention *that* to Wufei. He wasn't going to barge in, in fact he and Zechs fell silent. Watching Wufei get flustered was one the few joys in life they could truly enjoy. Sadistic but utterly captivating.

"Excuse me!" The braided boy smirk, "Continuing, you have such a cute body that I hate seeing you hide it. So, I had to supplement clothing for now. We *will* go shopping while I am here. And I know of another person who love to join us!"

Wufei suffered silently with the cross look of mortification and searing anger.

"Cut it out you two. We're here." Zechs laughed.

He received a willfully annoyed glare from the American and a relieved look from his sweet partner. Opening the door for them, they entered into the hotel's lobby.

Almost immediately an officer approached them... Wufei noticed how active the place seemed for the middle of the night... Officers running everywhere... "Is something wrong?" He asked, looking up at his partner.

Immediately, Zechs noticed the commotion and asked the approaching officer, "Officer ? D�tective Zechs Marquise des Preventers. Que se passe-t-il ici ? Qu'est-il arrives?"

The nervous wiped sweat off his brow, obviously distraught. "Oui, Monsieur le d�tective. Il y a environ une heur, quelqu'un s'est introduit par effraction, et les corps... ils ont disparu!" <14>

Zechs blinked. "What?" Duo asked, tapping his foot impatiently. Was this what poor Chang had to deal with? He knew the boy didn't speak a words of French... That must have been a boring afternoon.

"He said that during the shift change someone broke in and took the bodies." The blonde replied. "That was a lot of bodies..."

"There were eight bodies! It is damn near impossible that they could have just been taken!" Wufei exclaimed.

"How long was the shift change?" Heero demanded to the flustered officer.

At the young officers look, Zechs asked again in French, "Combien de temps a dur� le changement?"

"Hm. Probablement trois minutes, peut-�tre moins. Aucun indice n'a �t� trouv�... Aucun sang renvers�... Rien monsieur!" the boy desperately pleaded, probably fearing the consequences of the night crews faux pas.

"Je vois." The tall blonde replied and dismissed the shaken officer with a careless wave of his hand. <15>

"Apparently, their shift change was three minutes. No clues... And the way they all seemed distressed no signs of entering and breaking." He relayed the short conversation back to them.

"Masaka..." Heero muttered. "Security cameras?"

Duo snorted, "In a place like this?"

"Maxwell's right, they mentioned earlier that there were none. It would interfere with the d�cor according to the management..." The Chinese boy informed them.

"Morons..." Heero responded. Looking over and about searching for something. After a few long silence moments he added. "Duo, this is your area of expertise, not ours. Any clue about breaking into this place?"

The braided boy indicated he would be back and dragged his "translator", meaning Chang's partner with him. "I'll find out!"

Leaving Heero and Wufei standing in the lobby, the other tow men seemed hard at work interrogating the head of security of the hotel. "Duo will figure something out." Heero mentioned attempting to break the silence.

"Aa." The other boy seemed inclined to agree.

"Zechs treating you alright Wufei?" the blue eyed boy asked after they had situated themselves on one of the ample couches in the open lobby.

Black eyes looked up, as if taken by some surprise to the question. He wanted to respond that the others should stop thinking he and Marquise were lovers but decided that probably wasn't what Heero was implying. "He's a good partner."

"Good. We were worried for a while." Heero nodded back, obviously his question answered. Though Wufei was wondering what he meant by "we", but he let it slide.

It was strange that Heero of all people was striking up a conversation with him. Accrediting the perfect soldier's new calmer attitude to his hyper lover, Wufei smiled slightly. "Zechs is a good man, Yuy. I doubt he would hurt me."

A tan arm slipped over the boy's shoulders. "Are you talking about me again? Stop... my ears are burning..."

That statement caused Duo to fall over with hysterical laughter as Wufei stammered and flushed. Heero rolled his eyes and looked to where his lover was. "Find out anything?"

With a quicker mood swing than the boy should have been able to accomplish, Duo was serious. "Yeah, not much help from Mister French than thou Security Chief. And the police were about as helpful as an ice pick through my temples."

Zechs snorted. "Please, I was the one having to translate for the man. Learn to breath between sentences next time."

"Hn." The Japanese boy snorted and replied, "And to think you have yet to see him really ramble."

"Or Maxwell drunk. That's even worse." Wufei added with a roll of his black eyes.

"Excuse me, gentlemen! Are we implying that I ramble?" An amused braided boy asked.

"We aren't implying it Maxwell. We *know* you ramble." Wufei joked and ducked the American's attempt to tickle him. "Stop it! We're at a crime scene."

"They are going to think we're a bunch of lunatics..." Zechs sighed, resting his head on his hands. "But heading back to the original point, there were no obvious signs of break in."

"Aa." Wufei nodded as Zechs relayed the information they had literally dragged from the hotel security. Caught up with talking, they missed Duo's eyes glitter and convey a message to his love.

"I'll be back, I'm going to double check something, okay?" He asked with his usual tone. With their nod he slipped off to the hallways past the chaos up front in the lobby.

He slipped into the shadows and looked. Good. No one had followed. He shifted in the shadows, feeling his spine stretch out as his tail uncurled. His head pounded for a second as his ears adjusted to his form.

"Where did he go?" Wufei asked looking around the lobby for the American.

"Make a phone call probably. He shouldn't be long. He is probably trying to get a hold of Hirde's last boyfriend, if not the girl herself. Give a while, you know how hard it is to get a good connection through phone lines..." Heero replied and sat on the couch to wait Duo's return. He wasn't sure how long he could stall them though. Duo would just have to hurry.

Duo slipped down the hall and scampered across the lobby. He caught Heero's gaze and nodded. Waiting tense until Heero pulled Zechs and Wufei's attention to someplace other than the crime scene.

With that problem solved he ran right under the officer's noses. He followed the scent of blood and human skin and death to where the original death occurred.

Squeezing under the doors he mildly thought of going on a diet. With one last squeeze he pushed under and was sprawled out in a moonlit ballroom. He was right, there was nothing the normal and untrained eye would find. It was amusing that Wufei had he thought to check the bodies. The mental note was made to chat with Quatre though and figure out if the boy noticed what he did or was the person good enough to cover their tracks to one of the world's best empaths?

Narrowing his purple eyes he found what he was looking for. Marks lined the floor in ancient symbols. "Shit... This was a real professional..." He thought. That would have to be brought up to Une later. She crazy for putting Wufei and Zechs on this case in his humble opinion.

He then noticed something from the corner of his eye. "Hello kitty. You see it to then?" the sweet alto whispered directly into his mind.

"SHHHHHHHH... Quatre!!!" Duo hissed as he regained his normal size. "You scared me half to death!"

The angelic blonde merely smirked in that zero-like manner. Psychotic and possessed feel to it. "I figured you were going to check it out. And yes, I felt it, there just wasn't much I could do till you got here. I am not a Preventer nor would they even have believed me."

The braided boy scoffed, "You mean Trowa's not a believer?"

"Trowa knows about as much as you let Heero know. Which of course isn't saying much... " The blonde replied. Walking into the center of the moon lighted room, he dipped down and ran his fingers along the tiles.

"When Une getting here and when are you going to get Zechs and Chang out of Paris?" Scooting over to where the Arabian boy was kneeling he crouching. "Pretty fancy writing, yeah? I think I better get back before the natives get restless."

A thin hand gripped his wrist. "Duo, Une sent them here on purpose. I chatted with her before we arrived. I made sure I was staying near enough after she called me."

"I am not putting them through it. Never again, Winner." Duo snarled his usually bright violet eyes flickering dangerously yellow.

"Calm down. Think rationally-"

"I am. I promised them. I promised them and I never lie!" Duo pleaded with the boy.

Quatre stood and brushed invisible speck off of himself. "Talk to Une. I was only doing her a favor. After she arrives though you and I have a date with Wu-chan."

Sighing in defeat for the moment, Duo stood up. "Stop prying into my thoughts."

"Start using a mental block if you want to keep your thoughts private. Now I believe you had a phone call to make?" The boy grinned.

With one last violent glare, the hissing American transformed and squeezed back out into the hallway and snuck back to the phones. With no one around he slipped back into his human guise and lifted the receiver off the phone. "Op�rateur? Oui, je dois faire un appel. Le pays est l'Am�rique, l'indicatif r�gional deux un deux. Obtenu cela? Le nombre est cinq trois deux un un huit neuf. Merci." <16>

As he waited for the call to go through he smiled at using the former Sank prince as his translator. After all, he was just reveling in the fact that Zechsie had the sexiest purr in his voice when he spoke French.

"Hello?" a sweet light voice asked on the line.

"Hallo mein Liebling, Hirde. Langes Zeit sprechen." Duo smirked. <17>

"Maxwell!?" She replied with a gasp.

"Care to explain what you were doing in Paris about... oh... Eight days ago? And whose body is pretending to be you?" He asked picking the dirt off one of his nails.

"I...I have no clue what you are talking about!" she whispered.

"Don't lie to me sweetie. We go back to far to try and trick each other through lies." He chuckled.

"Says the man who never lies..." she scoffed.

"Only to some. Only to some. Start talking and we'll see how the consequences go from there." His voice cold and hard as steel. Violet eyes suppressing barely contained fury.

"Believe me, I was willing to do this! And how did you know I would be here?" she asked heatedly.

"My darling, I *always* can find you. Besides, I figured you wouldn't be stupid enough to hide at your family's holdings in Germany. Now spill it or I will send someone who I know will take great delight in making you his snack." He threatened, his tone dripping with the chill that he wasn't playing around.

~~~~'~~@@~~'~~~~

The natives were getting restless. He almost sighed in relief when he saw Duo walk out and head towards them. "You ready?"

"Yep. I'll explain what I discovered tomorrow morning after we pick up Une." He smiled at his brown haired lover. Turning to the puzzled detectives he grinned. "Nothing big. We'll get Une and be in front of your hotel about ten thirty. I don't work early. Then we can chit chat about the case. See you tomorrow!"

Hooking arms with his bemused love, Duo dragged Heero out the glass doors and down the street. A few minutes later, Wufei and Zechs saw them drive by on a motorcycle.

"Are you confused yet?" Wufei asked not hiding his confused sigh.

"Completely." They walked out into the crisp morning air. "Do you even want to head back to the hotel to sleep? It like four thirty in the morning now. I didn't realize we were there for so long..."

"What else can we do? I am not tired and my head hurts... " Wufei grumbled and snuggled into his scarf.

"We could walk around, enjoy Paris in the early morning light before the crowds start. Then head back and shower and things before the boys return. Sound like a plan?" the blonde asked wrapping his arms around his partner. Hopefully the boy didn't dislocate his shoulder like he did the first time Zechs tried this gesture. It was just that Wufei looked cold...

Surprisingly, Wufei leaned back and muttered, "Sounds like a plan... For some reason I feel like I am missing an important piece of the puzzle, you?"

Smiling gently at Wufei, Zechs nodded. "Like being left in the dark... I get the same feeling. You sure you'll be okay? You're shivering..."

"I'll be fine once we start walking. So, Zechs, what is first on my personal tour?" The Chinese boy smiled gently in the first tiers of light streaming in the city of lights.

Zechs laughed, and wrapped his around the boy's small waist. Mildly thinking that he should have thought of flirting when the boy was sleep deprived earlier, either that or Wufei decided to miraculously accept his flirtations. "Well, we can start with the infamous tower... If memory serves it's a few blocks from here..."

To be continued....

<1> From the poem Do You Remember Yesterday... And it is (c)1997 Terry Moore who is a wonderful writer/artist who writes Strangers in Paradise... www.strangersinparadise.com and I soooo used this without permission and I beg his humble forgiveness... no money was made from this fic... and I have nothing... sniffles... I am not worthy...
<2> "excuse me sir."
<3> Yes. Our reservations were made under Mr. Quatre Winner. Under Chang and Marquise.
<4> "Sirs? Waiting for Mister Winner. Then please come with me." "Thank you"
<5> " Excuse me? Yes, we are looking for Seventh Street? Downtown Paris?"
<6> "Yes sir. Three blocks and then turn left. Walk another few blocks."
<7> "Greetings. I am Trowa Barton, me and my associates are here representing the Preventers."
<8> "I see. thank you for coming. we are a slight bit concerned about this case. the media are pouncing on it and the public is not happy. I am commander Jeanne. You are?"
<9> "Do you speak Japanese?" "Or perhaps a few officers speak English? Not all of us are fluent in French."
<10> "I would watch my tone, madam. You are talking to officers in an organization higher than you."
<11> "Yes, can you bring you superior over to us. It is regarding the causes of the victim's deaths. Thank you."
<12> "Waitress? Yes we are ready to order".
<13> "Good evening, gentlemen and madam."
"We will start off with salad, then move onto soup, whatever is the days special."
"The seafood, sir. It is excellent and is dressed with a light white wine sauce."
"Good, then four of the seafood specials. And a bottle of one of your finer wines."
"Very good sir."
<14> "Officer? Detective Zechs Marquise from the Preventers. What's going on here? What happened?"
"Yes, detective. About an hour ago during the change in shifts someone broke in and the bodies... They are missing sir!"
<15> "Hm. Possibly three minutes, maybe a little less. No clues were found... No blood spilt... Nothing sir!"
"I see."
<16> "Operator? Yes, I need to make a call. Country is America, area code two one two. Got that? The number is five three two one one eight nine. Thank you."
<17> "Hello my darling Hirde. Long time no speak."