untitled Ryoga/Duo Fic

-----part 1-----

The sound awakened Ryoga. He sat up in the relatively warm cave he'd found and went to the mouth of the cave, following the rope he'd spiked into the cave wall the night before when he'd first taken shelter within from the blizzard. In the distance, he could see an orange glow, flickering against the snow-bleached sky. A fire! And not just a forest fire, judging by the color of the smoke.

He raced towards it, keeping the flickering glow in front of him at all times, until, by some miracle he reached his destination.

It was the wreckage of a large military vessel, of a type Ryoga had never seen before. Not that he'd ever actually seen *any* type of military vessel. Lying face down amidst the burning wreckage was a still figure. Ryoga saw the braid and immediately thought it was Ranma. With a gasp of horror, he pulled the bit of wreckage off the pilot's back. He felt a moment of relief to find that the braid continued down to the boy's very nicely shaped ass.

It took some doing, but Ryoga eventually got the other boy free of the wreckage. He lifted him up and carried him away from the wreckage as fast as he could, running in almost the exact opposite direction from the cave.

-----part 2-----

Ryoga gave a long sigh and sank to his knees, placing the still-unconscious boy on the ground before him. "Sorry about this. Of all the people to get rescued by, you had the misfortune of it being me. We shall probably freeze to death." He held the boy close, trying to keep him warm. "You're too lovely to die, my friend." he said. "I must keep you warm."

The braided boy opened his eyes, blearily. "Heero?" he asked, still not quite seeing properly in his weakened state.

"I'm afraid not." Ryoga told him. "I'm Ryoga." he noticed a hand sticking out of the snow nearby. That was probably Heero's hand, he realized. He covered the boy whose name he still did not know with a blanket. "I'll be right back." he said. "I'm just going to see if I can find us some food." he was lying, but if that was his friend, he didn't want this boy to know about it. He didn't want to risk this boy suddenly losing the will to live. Not now, when it was so dangerously cold. 

The boy under the snow was dead. His neck broken. Ryoga surmised that he must've been thrown into the snow that was already there and that he was quickly covered up again. Ryoga searched and found the boy's emergency rations. Amongst them was a picture of the braided boy and this unfortunate youth with a note on the back that read "To my beloved fiancé Heero from Duo." 

Ryoga reburied the body and set a marking stone upon the grave. "Yasumu." he whispered. He returned to Duo's side. "Sorry." he said. "No luck."

"That's okay." Duo whispered. "I'm too tired to eat anyhow."

Ryoga picked Duo up and carried him onward. "If I keep walking straight, I'll hit a city or a house sooner or later." he said, aloud, trying to keep himself awake.

He walked forward a few more miles, then, exhausted and defeated, he collapsed and lay still near a still, quiet pond.

-----part 3-----

Kasumi went outside to sweep the back porch. "Oh my!" she gasped, seeing Ryoga and the new boy lying by the koi pond. She ran into the house. "Father. Ranma's friend is out back." she reported.

"Ryoga!" Ranma gasped with delight. Running out back he saw Ryoga lying there. Near him was a young man with a very long braid. Ranma blinked. "I wonder if he's cursed." he said, barely noticing that he was speaking out loud. He picked Ryoga up and carried him inside, pausing only long enough to remove Ryoga's shoes and leave them in the appropriate place.

Once Ryoga was safely in bed, Ranma returned for the other boy. He passed Nabiki as he was carrying the boy into the other guest room.

"He's cute." Nabiki grinned.

Ranma felt sorry for the boy, whom he was sure would become Nabiki's new photographic conquest. 


Duo woke some time later. He sat up on his futon and pondered what he would do next. He had to look for Heero, but how he would go about doing so when he had no idea of how far he was from the crash site or in which direction he'd been carried, he didn't know.

Kasumi walked in. She'd intended to check on the boy and was relieved to see him conscious. "Oh good. You're awake." she said. "Would you like to take a bath now?"

"Yes, please." Duo decided. He followed Kasumi to the bathing room.

"Dinner will be in half an hour." Kasumi told him. "Here are some dry, clean clothes you can borrow."

"Thank you." Duo bowed.

"You're welcome." Kasumi returned the bow, then departed.


Duo untied his braid and let his hair fan out upon the waters of the bath, as he relaxed and let the hot water warm his chilled form.

Nabiki peeked in for a moment, then went to fetch her camera. If she was lucky, she thought, she could get a nice picture of him naked with his hair down.

Her luck was in and she managed to snap a picture of him from the back. His hair, unbraided, reached to midway down his thighs, and looked almost angelic, fanned out across his back as it was.

Duo turned and saw her there.

Nabiki was flustered. She'd been caught! Now what, she wondered. To her utter amazement, Duo drop to his knees, arched his back, and tilted back his head, letting his hair fall straight down behind him.

Nabiki was delighted. She couldn't believe she had found a willing subject for her camera.

Duo treated Nabiki to a number of other very suggestive poses before finally getting dressed for supper and braiding his hair into its accustomed style.

"We should get a few outdoor shots later on." He suggested to Nabiki during dinner.

Ranma nearly choked on his tempura. As it was Ryoga ended up performing the Heimlich on him.

"Thanks, P-chan." Ranma coughed.

"Who're you callin' P-chan?" Ryoga challenged.

-----part 4-----

Kuno sat at his usual table and tapped his fingers upon its surface. "Where is that girl?" he muttered. He looked up as Nabiki walked in. "Ah, at last you've come. So, where is this new beauty you speak of?"

"First... the cash." Nabiki held her hand out. "Ten thousand yen."

"Are you mad?!" Kuno demanded.

"If you don't want to see them...." Nabiki hedged.

"I must. I MUST!" Kuno declared, handing over the money.

Nabiki handed the photos to Kuno.

"Such a desirable creature!" Kuno lusted. "So fair of form and grace. T'was the most blessed of all days whence this angel was born. What be the name of this most desirable of all, whose beauty surpassed even that of Akane Tendo and the pigtailed girl."

"Duo." Nabiki replied, not bothering to add that Duo was in fact a boy.

-----part 5-----

"Ah, Duo. Fair Duo." Kuno emoted that evening, as he lay in bed, gazing up at the ceiling. "So fine. So desirable. Like Aphrodite herself."

He was still doting over Duo the next morning, when he noticed that Kodachi was laughing. "Laughest thou, my twisted sister?" he asked. "Surely thou art jealous that I have at last found my divine love. I shall have this Duo for myself."

"Whoever would've thought..." Kodachi could no longer contain herself. She knew all about Duo, and she couldn't wait to see the look on Kuno's face.

"Would've thought what, dear sister?" Kuno asked.

But nothing further was forthcoming from Kodachi.


Kuno arrived at school and began to ask around about Duo, stating his reasons for searching in no uncertain terms. By lunch, everyone knew Kuno had the hots for Duo and the gossip ranged from "someone's playing a joke on Kuno" to "Kuno's 'joined the other team'." 

Duo was talking with Ryoga and Ranma, who was currently in her female form, thanks to the showers running out of hot water.

"Pigtailed girl." he said. "Forgive me, for I have found another." Absently, he took Duo's hand and kissed it, then drew Duo up out of his chair, and kissed him for a long moment before realization struck him and he backed away in shock.

At a nearby table, Nabiki was laughing her head off.

"Excuse me." Kuno said, dropping Duo and going over to Nabiki's table. "That was a dirty trick." he growled.

"A girl's gotta have a little fun once in a while." Nabiki shrugged.

-----part 6-----

Kuno walked in and found Sasuke and Kodachi both howling with laughter. 

"How's your boyfriend?" Kodachi guffawed.

"He's NOT my boyfriend." Kuno howled in rage as he stormed into the bathing room and stripped off his garments.

Once in the warm, soothing bath, Kuno closed his eyes and tried to relax. Images of Duo kept coming into his mind and he tried to shake them off. He tried to think of his beloved Pigtailed Girl... but alas, he recalled, he'd told her that he was leaving her for Duo. And she probably had told Akane. 

//You enjoyed it.// his mind pointed out. //until you realized he was a guy, you liked that kiss.//

"Never! Never never never!" Kuno exclaimed. "I am not in love with another boy. And besides, he's already spoken for. Ryoga Hibiki brought him here and there's no doubt those two are in love. So I wouldn't have a chance with him if I was interested in other young men, which I am not. There is no way in hell I'm even remotely attracted to another man." He paused, noticing a peculiar sensation in his loins, then looked down and discovered, to his horror, that he'd been masturbating for at least several minutes. He drew his hand away from himself. He could not work out any mental acrobatics to remove himself from the truth this time. "So, it's true." he sighed "Perhaps that is the reason for my indecision. Very well." he took a deep breath. "Duo Maxwell," he vowed, "I shall make you mine."

-----TBC-----