The Heart of Arabia - part 1

by KatiKat

They all sat in the long white limousine, Quatre and his band - The Heart of Arabia. The sun was hot and the "road" leading through the rocks and sand was dirty, the dust raising behind the car, leaving a brownish cloud behind. They had the climatization turned, up but they could still feel the sweat trickling down their backs. It was noon in the desert - the hottest place on Earth.

"You never took us home with you before, Quatre," said the longhaired Chinese boy sitting across from Quatre matter of factly, but his raised eyebrows indicated a question.

The blond Arabian tore his gaze away from the sand and rocks passing by in quick motion as the car headed up yet another mountain and turned to his friend, Chang Wufei. He was dressed in white pants and black tank top that left his muscled and bronzed shoulders bare. He was quite a sight to take in - and the best one in handling the keyboard. "Well, it was time, right? I´ve visited all of you at home and it seemed rather rude to not invite you to mine."

"If you are doing it only out of duty..." the half Japanese man began to say, dressed in khaki pants and black sleeveless shirt, sitting next to Wufei.

"Of course not, Heero," Quatre interrupted his friend. Quatre knew him the longest time from all of them having met him in college. He was a great drummer - a way to releave the anger and bad temper he often suffered from. "If I didn´t want you here, I wouldn´t have invited you. You should know me better than that."

Heero nodded and returned to staring out the window of the car, the unruly bangs falling in his face as usual, hiding his prussian eyes. Quatre sighed. Heero had been really touchy these days. He knew it had something to do with Relena, the little sister of their guitarist Milliardo Peacecraft, the Count of
Sanq. They were a noble family he and Heero met during their college years in England. As much as they both liked Milliardo - or Zechs as he prefered to call himself - they disliked his sister twice as much. She was a whiny clingy girl that had the hots for Heero. She followed them all over the world like a real groupie. At first they laughed about it, but now it had gotten plain annoying. Zechs did all he could to keep his little sister away from them, but he wasn´t almighty. And she always managed to slip under his radar. They always managed to deal with her, but the last time she went too far. Coming back from their concert, Heero found her naked in his bed. Quatre had never seen him that furious. Through clenched teeth, he asked Zechs to remove his sister from his room or he would do it himself and that his solution would be much more permanent. The longhaired, platinum blond man dragged her out of the hotel, covered only in the blanket from Heero´s room. Every time Quatre closed his eyes he could see the scene she made: she was kicking and screaming making a total fool out of herself, but embarassing them in the process too. Nobody slept that night and although they were incredibly tired, they left the hotel that night.

Quatre regarded his best friend with worry once more. Maybe this quiet vacation away from other people - Relena included, would help them all relax. He looked to the right where Zechs was seated next to Wufei. He saw the same thoughts displayed on his face, the worry in his cornflower blue eyes. Zechs felt guilty for all the problems Relena was causing them. But it was not his fault - even Heero snapped at him as he apologized for the upteenth time for the scandal at the hotel.

"You okay?"

The silent question brought Quatre back from his reverie and smiling a little, he looked at the young man sitting next to him. Trowa Barton, the youngest of their group - two years younger than him and Heero - the one playing the flute in their band... and Quatre´s lover as of a month ago. Quatre still thought that it was Allah´s blessing that he found a real soul mate in his life. He remembered how shy he was when he confessed his love to the taller boy. He still remembered the surprise in the one forest green eye visible behind the mop of hair covering half of his face, the side that was marred by scars left by the fire that took his family just two years before they met. The surprise turned to delight and then to love. Quatre´s hopes had been fulfilled. He found the love of his life.

"Yeah, love. I´m fine. Just lost in the memories," he answered him, entwining his fingers with the younger man´s. It always helped to feel the strength in them.

"Good ones, I hope," said Trowa tightening his grip on Quatre´s hand just a little.

"Partially," the blond man admitted and giving his lover one last smile he turned to look out of the window once again. He recognized the terrain there already - they were now up on the plateau on the top of the small table-like mountain. They were not far away from the Winner estate - The Pearl of Desert as it was called too. And he was right. Just in that moment the car took a 90 degrees turn to the right and headed around the large pile of rocks - a convenient road sign showing where to turn when the "road" got covered in sand and dirt and wasn´t visible at all - down the to the small valley where the family estate of Quatre´s family stood proud inmitten the lush green oase. There was even a waterfall bringing the waters out from the deepness of the mountains to the earth, building small lakes here and there before disappearing in the sand just outside the sheltered valley.

The other men in the car gasped with surprise, seeing the paradise on Earth. Among the green grass and bushes the estate stood proudly. Made of white stone, it shone so brightly in the sun that it was making their eyes hurt.

"It´s beautiful, Quatre," Trowa whispered.

Quatre smiled. Yeah, his family - rich business men and women - had always had more than enough money to buy whatever they wanted. Even to build an estate among the rocks and sand of the desert. There was nothing impossible for the Winner family.

It was good to be home.

The End - part 1