The Claim – part 10

"Heero, you´re already back?" Duo asked, as the Enforcer stepped over the threshold of their home. The lifebearer quickly wiped the tears running down his pale cheeks, and tried to smile at him.

Heero´s eyes narrowed as he noticed the reddened eyes and wet cheeks. "Is something wrong?" he asked, closing the door behind himself.

"No, nothing´s wrong, really," Duo hurried to reassure him. "Just being silly and feeling sorry for myself."

The Enforcer looked at Duo a moment longer without saying anything, then turned away. Shinigami padded to him, his tail wagging with delight to have his master home. Heero petted the dog, then crossed the room and dumped the burden he had been carrying on the table. "It´s for you," Heero stated, then started to unlace the heavy vest that protected him from the early winter chill.

Duo blinked at the plain linen bundle. "What is it?" he asked, moving away from the fireplace in which he had been staring just before Heero walked in.

"Your clothes."

The lifebearer frowned and raised his eyes to Heero. "My clothes?" he said, his voice confused.

The Enforcer turned around and headed to the fireplace to warm up his hands. "Yes. I went to the village. Your brother gave it to me."

"Solo?" Duo perked up, hearing his brother´s name. "How is he? What did he say? Is he okay?" he showered the Enforcer with questions.

Heero took his time to answer. He took off his vest and hung it on the hook near the fireplace to heat it up. He then turned to the lifebearer, who was bouncing up and down with impatience. "He wanted you to have this," Heero said, and handed Duo the folded piece of parchment.

The longhaired young man threw himself across the room as fast as possible and tore the letter out of Heero´s hand. As soon as he had it in his hands though, his hurry turned to hesitation. Gently, almost reverently, he caressed the red wax seal with which the letter was closed. It was Solo´s seal - a mountain cat in a jump. Duo closed his eyes and pressed the parchment to his chest. He missed his brother so much.

When he opened his eyes he found Heero watching him. "I... Thank you, Heero," Duo said quietly, then stepped closer and kissed the Enforcer´s slightly stubbled cheek. It was just a chaste kiss, but Duo blushed up to the roots of his hair anyway, then turned around quickly. So quickly that he didn´t notice the surprised expression Heero´s face wore.

For a moment he stopped by the bundle of his clothes. He really wanted to read the letter first, but the woolen pants he borrowed from Heero scratched his skin every time he moved and it was driving him crazy. Looking from the letter in his hands to the clothes on the table and back, he sighed finally. Duo laid the letter on the bed, glaring at Shinigami who padded over to sniff at it. "No, no. That´s mine, Shaggy," he warned the dog.

Watching the dog huff without interest and start to scratch behind one of his black ears, Duo turned and went back to the table. He untied the knot on the
bundle and opened the linen flaps.

Shirts, trousers, all made of soft, warm material. Duo smiled happily as he ran his hand over the items of clothing. Throwing a sideways glance at Heero, who was crouching in front of the fireplace and tossing in a few logs, he kicked off Heero´s too large shoes and quickly pulled down the awfully scratchy pants. The cold air touched his naked skin and Duo shivered. He pulled one of his favourite pairs of pants out of the pile and put them on. As soon as the soft material was in contact with his skin, he sighed in pleasure. He laced the pants together, then lifted his eyes. Only to meet Heero´s surprised ones. Duo blushed.

"Uh, I.. that is... I borrowed your clothes and they are... kind of... They itch," Duo said finally.

The Enforcer shrugged. "You get used to it."

The lifebearer lifted one of his eyebrows. He really doubted he would be able to get used to such torture.

"You can put your clothes in the chest with mine," Heero said, pointing to the chest by the bed, then turned back to the fire where a piece of meat was hissing, roasting over the flames.

Duo nodded, pulled his leather boots out of the bundle, then tied the flaps back together. He went to the bed, opened the chest and shoved the clothes in next to Heero´s. Closing the lid, he went to sit on the bed.

Now concentrating fully on the letter, he took it carefully in his hand and climbed onto the bed. Shinigami jumped on the bed too and settled down next to Duo, resting his muzzle on the lifebearer´s leg. Duo petted the black head, then broke the seal slowly. He opened it and had to smile, seeing the scratch Solo called writing. It wasn´t anywhere near having a real talk with his brother, but it was probably the closest he would ever get to him in the future.

With a deep sigh and an ache growing in his heart, he began reading.

*-*-*-*-*-*

"What are you doing?" Duo asked, sitting down in the chair opposite Heero. While reading his letter, that now sat on the pillow, he noticed the Enforcer open a door in the floor next to the fireplace, a door he didn´t notice before, and pull out something heavy. It made Duo curious.

The Enforcer, who had been totally engrossed in his work, twitched and his head shot up to look at Duo. "I´m oiling the traps," he answered, lowering his eyes again and smearing another clump of fat on the rusty hinge of the metal trap. "Did you finish Solo´s letter?" he asked, seeing that Duo had settled down and propped his head on his hands comfortably, watching the Enforcer´s work intently.

Duo smiled sadly. "Yeah," he sighed, then perked up again suddenly. "Did you know that Solo was courting Sal from the neighbouring village? Sal is a healer, kinda older than Solo. He had been claimed in the past, but his mate died two winters ago. Solo had been pursuing him since then. Looks like Sal finally decided to give in. Solo wrote that they will have their claiming ceremony in the Spring." Duo sounded genuinely happy for his brother, and he was happy for him too, but he felt very sad that he will miss his brother´s big day.

Heero nodded, not raising his eyes from his work. "I know Sal. Had to deal with him in the past. He is a good healer and a strong lifebearer. He will gift your brother with many children."

Duo sighed heavily. The idea of children was still very painful for him, bringing a dull ache into his heart. Trowa told him that he wasn´t sure if Duo would ever be able to have more children. He would have to wait to see if the bleeding came. And if not... That would be a clear answer to that question. It was funny. The regular bleeding was a period of the month he usually hated with a vengeance, and now he was waiting for it and praying for it to come, no matter how painful it would be.

To tear his thoughts away from these depressing thoughts, Duo asked, his curiosity piqued: "How does it work?"

Heero looked up. "What?"

Duo pointed at the quite heavy looking mechanism. "That."

The Enforcer wiped his greasy hands into the piece of cloth. "You have to pull the jaws apart like this." He gripped the two jagged half circles and using all his strength, he pulled them apart, until it clicked and they stayed open, forming a circle with a small, full circle in the middle. "Then it´s ready," he said, laying the trap in the middle of the table.

Duo frowned. "Looks kinda heavy. Can I try it?"

"No," Heero said, shaking his head. "It´s dangerous. You have to be really careful and not let the jaws close again while you are holding them, because you could hurt yourself."

Remembering how the muscles on Heero´s arms bulged when he set the trap, Duo decided it was better not to argue. "And what happens then?" he asked. He was genuinely curious about what Heero did when he went out.

"I have to set it down on a path the animals travel often and cover it with fallen leaves." He bent down and retrieved an arrow he had to throw away for it wasn´t straight enough to fly properly. "And when they step on this circle," he touched the right place with the tip of the arrow and the jaws snapped together with a loud crack, "they get caught." He looked up at Duo right in time to see him shiver, his eyes going wide.

"That must hurt a lot," the lifebearer mumbled under his breath.

"Yes, it does," Heero agreed. "It bites through the skin and muscles right to the bone, which it usually breaks if not crushes. It´s really painful. Even people can´t get out of the trap without help." The Enforcer looked Duo directly in the eyes. "That´s why I want you to be really careful. I don´t want you going out in the forest without me, okay? You could easily overlook this trap and I´m the only one who knows exactly where all the traps are set."

Duo nodded. "I won´t go out without you," he said.

"I want you to promise me, that you won´t go into the forest alone. Promise me!" Heero demanded.

"I... I promise," Duo timidly answered Heero´s request, hearing the urgency in the Enforcer voice.

The next couple of minutes they sat quietly, Heero repairing the traps and Duo watching him work. Finally, the lifebearer couldn´t sit quietly any longer and so he asked hesitantly: "What are these traps for? For what animal I mean."

"They are for a wolf," Heero answered curtly.

"A wolf? You mean for one in particular?" Duo asked again, his curiosity peeked again.

"Yes, for one in particular," the Enforcer said, his voice grim, just like the expression on his face.

When Heero didn´t elaborate, the lifebearer came up with another question. "And what´s so special about this one wolf?"

The Enforcer´s movements stopped. "He´s a killer. A beast that kills, and not just because it´s hungry."

Duo frowned. "I didn't think that animals had those urges. The teacher in our village said that animals kill only when they are hungry."

Heero resumed his work, still not looking at Duo. "Not this one."

"You've... met him before," the lifebearer guessed quietly.

It looked as if the Enforcer wouldn´t answer this particular question, for his shoulders tensed, his movements stopping again, and the expression on his face hardened. But then, after a long while when Duo didn´t push further, the muscles in his body relaxed again, one after the other.

His eyes on the metal trap, Heero said softly: "Yes, I saw him before. It was a long time ago, though."

Feeling the need to find out more about the man who claimed him, and sensing that Heero wasn´t as closed off tonight as he usually was, Duo continued. "What happened?"

"He attacked a person I held dear. I couldn´t let him kill that person," the Enforcer said, his voice determined.

"Is that where the scars on your back came from?" Seeing Heero freeze again, Duo added hurriedly: "I saw them when you were changing. They are kind of... hard... to overlook." The lifebearer swallowed, remembering the deep scratches that ran down Heero´s back, from his right shoulder to his left hip. They were completely healed now, but they still looked really bad. He couldn´t even imagine what they looked like when they were fresh.

Heero looked Duo in the eyes searchingly, for a long moment. Obviously not finding what he had been looking for, he sighed heavily and looked down at the jagged jaws. "Yes. He caused them."

The lifebearer followed Heero´s gaze with his own. The sharp teeth made him shiver. "He´s really big, huh?"

The Enforcer nodded gravely. "Yes. I´ve never seen a beast that big in my life. He is old, really old, but still extremely strong. He is even killing his own kind." Heero raised his head and looked Duo directly in the eyes. "That beast is mad, Duo, but also highly intelligent. The wolf isn´t right in his head. He isn´t scared of humans and he gets bolder and bolder with each year. Today I found his tracks by the path leading to the village. That´s why I don´t want you out there. Should he attack, not even Shinigami would be able to stop him. Do you understand how grave the situation is?"

Duo nodded seriously. "Yes, I do. And I swear that I won´t go out in the woods."

The Enforcer held Duo´s gaze for a moment longer, then nodded, satisfied with Duo understanding where he stood.

"So, can I help you somehow?" the lifebearer offered, looking at the pile of arrows on the ground next to Heero´s chair. When the Enforcer looked at him with doubt in his eyes, Duo frowned. "I can help you. Maybe I don´t know much about these things," he waved his hand at the weapons, "but I´m a fast learner. Show me what to do and I will help."

"Okay," Heero gave in. He then bent down and retrieved one of the arrows. "You have to take this feather," he lifted the grey feather from the pile on the table, "and put it here," he shoved the feather firmly into one of the slits at the end. "It has to sit firmly though, otherwise the arrow won´t fly straight. Understand?"

Duo, who moved closer to see what Heero was doing, nodded. "I understand." He took the arrow Heero was handing him and tried it. The first try wasn´t sitting right, the second was better. Finally on the third try, Heero nodded with satisfaction and Duo beamed at him. Actually it wasn´t so hard.

"Good, just lay them in a pile and I will do the rest," the Enforcer said, setting the metal traps aside to make room.

The rest of the evening was spent in companiable cooperation.

*-*-*-*-*-*

"You don´t have to sleep on the floor," Duo said, seeing Heero unravel his blanket by the fire once again. When the Enforcer looked at him, Duo unsuccesfully tried not to blush. "You can sleep in the bed with me, you know? It´s big enough for both of us."

"Are you sure?" Heero asked gently, not wanting to put pressure on the lifebearer. "I don´t mind sleeping here."

The lifebearer shook his head, trying to fight his blush. "It must be uncomfortable on the floor and I don´t mind us... you know... sleeping here... together... in one bed, that is," Duo stammered, his blush deepening even more.

The Enforcer watched the squirming lifebearer a moment longer. Even though Duo´s cheeks were flushed, he really did seem to mean it. "Allright, if you really don´t mind..."

"I don´t," the longhaired boy reassured him again.

"Then it´s settled." Heero bent down and retrieved the warm blanket and his pillow, then walked over to the bed and set it all down.

They washed quickly in the warm water in the bucket by the fireplace and changed into their usual sleep attire - a long smock for Duo and a sleeveless shirt and short pants for Heero. The Enforcer then added a couple more pieces of wood on the fire, while Duo already slipped under the covers. With the additional blanket, it was much warmer now.

Lying stiff in the bed, heart beating wildly, eyes closed tightly, Duo waited for Heero to come to bed.

When Heero lifted the covers and slipped under them, Duo lay perfectly still, his body taut as a bow string. His eyes were locked on the dark ceiling, his hands clenched in fists, and he was barely breathing.

"Look, Duo, if this makes you uncomfortable, I have no problems with sleeping by the fire," Heero said quietly after a while. He could feel the tense body next to him and he suspected that the longhaired young man was ready to snap.

Finally Duo let out a long sigh. "No... no, it´s okay. I´m just not used to... you know... sharing a bed with anybody," he explained. "When we were kids, Solo and I slept in the same bed, but that was years ago. And this," he waved his hand a little, "is quite... new for me."

Heero turned his head on the pillow and looked at the lifebearer´s profile in the orange glow of the fire. "If it makes you feel better, I´m not used to sleeping with anybody either. Well, maybe except for Shinigami."

Duo let out a bark of laughter, the tension between them easing. "Yeah, he is quite the cuddly type," he agreed. He then turned his head to the right and the breath caught in his throat again, seeing Heero lying so close, watching him intently.

"You don´t have to be afraid," Heero said softly.

Duo swallowed. "I´m... I´m not," he stammered, blushing deeply. Quickly, he turned his head and resumed his ceiling watching exercise.

"I´ll never hurt you. I swear. And I will wait as long as you need," the Enforcer reassured him, taking one of Duo´s cold hands in his.

The lifebearer swallowed again, squeezing the warm hand. His heart was beating wildly. Did that mean that Heero wanted him? Wanted him... like that? He blushed again and felt a shiver run up and down his spine. Wufei had been his first and he never thought past that.

That thought brought Duo´s mind to a screeching halt. Wufei...

"Heero?" the lifebearer whispered shyly, not looking at the Enforcer lying next to him, their thighs touching.

"Hm?" Heero answered on the verge of sleep.

"Wufei was here today," Duo said, falling silent with the last word.

The Enforcer´s eyes snapped open, and he felt his body freeze with expectation. He had heard a part of the argument but... "Yes?"

Duo swallowed and nodded, then turned his head toward Heero. "Yeah, I sent him away and told him not to come back ever again." When the Enforcer kept his eyes glued to the ceiling, he continued, a desperate tone entering his voice: "I meant it. I don´t want to be with him."

Heero kept silent. Even though Duo didn´t want to be with Wufei, it didn´t mean that he wanted to be with him. "That´s good. For you, I mean. He was no good for you."

Duo blinked. "Really?" he asked, a little uncertain.

This time Heero did turn to his companion and looked at him directly, an earnest expression in his eyes. "No, he isn´t."

The lifebearer blinked again, a little flustered. "Okay," he said, then returned his gaze back to the ceiling.

Heero was almost asleep, when the voice came again. "Heero, are you asleep?"

"Hn," he answered, letting Duo decide what the answer probably meant.

"Solo wrote about the burned out hut of the village´s Healer," Duo said a little nervous. "Were you... did you... did you do it?" he asked finally, his voice soft.

The Enforcer kept his eyes closed, although fully awake once again. "Where would I get the time for that?" he said, his voice completely neutral.

"Oh, right. I guess," Duo replied, his voice trailing off.

The hut fell silent, the cracking of wood in the fireplace the only sound loud enough to be heard. Shinigami was lying by the fire, his eyes blissfully closed in the heat of the fireplace.

"Can I ask you something?" Duo whispered, not wanting to wake Heero if he was truly asleep this time.

The Enforcer sighed heavily and turned on his side, facing Duo, one arm bent under his head. "Yes, you can."

Duo turned on his side too, mirroring Heero´s position. "The door, by the fireplace... the one in the floor, where does it lead?"

The Enforcer blinked, unable to follow the jumps Duo´s thoughts kept making. "Nowhere," Heero answered finally, watching how the orange glow from the fireplace made the shadows dance on Duo´s face. "It´s just a hole in the ground. I keep meat and other food in there during the summer. It´s cold in there, so the food doesn´t go bad as quickly as it would otherwise. It´s a good storage place too."

Duo nodded and fell silent again. "Can... can I ask you something else?" he said after a minute or so, nervously licking his lips.

"No, you can´t," Heero answered.

Duo blinked, surprised and a little hurt. "Huh?"

The Enforcer took Duo´s hand in his again and squeezed it tightly. "You don´t have to be nervous, Duo. I swear." He waited for Duo to give him a little nod. "Now shut up and go to sleep. I have to get up early," Heero ordered, the gentleness easing the edge of his words.

Duo watched Heero fall asleep, the grip the Enforcer had on his hand slackening. The lifebearer smiled, snuggling down in the covers, the caloused hand still in his. It felt like home.

*-*-*-*-*

In the middle of the night, something woke Heero up. He didn´t know what roused him from his sleep at first, but then he felt it again. There was something on his nose, tickling, giving him the urge to sneeze. He tried to swat it away, when he realized that something heavy and very warm rested on his chest.

His eyes snapped open and he looked down at the chestnut head, lying peacefully on his shoulder. Some strands escaped the loose braid and were now the cause of his itchy nose. Heero tried to disentangle himself gently from the sleeping lifebearer, had to give it up soon though. The lifebearer had one arm thrown over Heero´s chest and one leg resting on the Enforcer´s thighs. It felt like being surrounded by a warm and soft cocoon. Heero sighed
and gave up, he stopped pretending he minded. Instead of pushing the lifebearer away, the Enforcer laid one arm around the slender shoulders, bringing Duo even closer. Hearing Duo hum a little in satisfaction, and feeling him rub his cheek against his chest, he smiled a little. It felt like home.

TBC