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Wufei knew there would be trouble as soon as he smelled smoke. He saw the source an instant later, drifting thick and black above the trees away from the road. Despite his vow to stay focused on his task, to not become entangled in another country's unrest, he found himself swerving off the path and into a the forest. That's when he heard the screaming. He broke into a run.

Off from the main highway...it could be a cottage, or a gypsy caravan--

Wufei stumbled into a clearing.

--or a church.

For a moment, he was held immobile, trapped in memories of a too-recent scene too similar to the one he saw now.

Blood and bodies and smoke
The smell of death and pain
The air shaking with the weight of tears
reverberating with the memory of screaming
Five men in armor, pinning down a small, slender figure that struggled despite its broken state
cloth tearing
a cry cut off sharply by the sound of flesh meeting flesh
Wufei standing helpless and horrified, a thousand denials clawing their way up his throat

And unlike that other time, when he hadn't been able to move until it had been too late, he was in action almost immediately. He drew the sword that was all that was left of his family and attacked the five soldiers with furious abandon.

Dishonorable to attack at their backs, a little voice noted dispassionately, and was ignored, replaced by something dark and blood-hungry that was coldly satisfied when the first soldier tipped over and gushed crimson from the stump where his head used to be.

The red filled his vision.

When it cleared, Wufei was standing alone, lungs burning as he gasped in the last wisps of smoke from the dying fire, arms sticky with already drying blood, bodies at his feet. There was only one he cared about, though-the one dressed in white acolyte robes, long caramel-colored braid unraveling, hiding the face.

Oh Wind, Wufei thought, panicking, I am too late again.

Then the strength drained out of him and he collapsed to his knees, sword dropping with a hollow thud behind him as he gathered the limp figure to his chest. A glint of steel was his only warning, before he felt a cold, sharp edge press against his throat, and a deep, ragged voice hiss, "Let me go."

Wufei went still, one part of him screaming K'so! Bakayaro! Sloppy sloppy sloppy!! While another rejoiced Alive! I wasn't too late! Alive!!

Wufei loosened his grip, but didn't let go, feeling without having to see the weakness that made the fist clutching the knife at his throat tremble.

"If I let you go, you will fall," he said calmly. The knife dug in, and the head tucked under Wufei's chin shifted and turned up, revealing the pale heart-shaped face under the ragged bangs, wide blue-violet eyes fever-bright.

"Let me go, or I'll kill you."

The young foreigner captured the eyes with his own and exerted a touch of will. "Sleep."

The grip wavered, loosened, but didn't fall. The mouth in the pale face flattened into a line. Wufei blinked, and stretched his power further, passing the fringes of the other's mind to brush up against something coiled and hurt. At the first touch, it lashed out like a wounded animal, striking Wufei a blow that sent him reeling into darkness.

Wufei remembered a time when he woke in stages, starting in a warm, incoherent world, then eventually prodded into increasing degrees of consciousness, usually by a rambunctious younger sibling or cousin. Now he woke instantly, unconscious then completely coherent between one moment and the next, and the first thing he saw in his instantly alert vision...was bare feet.

The toes wiggled "hello" to him.

He blinked and lifted his eyes from bare toes up the remnants of a robe draped modestly over crooked legs to wide violet eyes that peeked at him warily over the top of knees that were hugged tightly against the thin body.

"Where are your shoes?" Wufei demanded. Well, perhaps he was not completely coherent. What had possessed him to ask that question?

The eyes blinked, bemused, and Wufei fought urge to blush. The acolyte offered up the beginnings of a smile and shrugged articulately.

"Don't know."

The deep voice surprised him, making him blurt out his next thought rather recklessly. "You're a boy!"

The boy chuckled, and though Wufei couldn't see his smile behind his knees, the purple eyes crinkled at the corners with amusement. "Yeah. I guess I am."

Flustered, the foreigner tried a more logical question, but it came out more blunt than he'd meant it to be.

"Why am I still alive?"

The smile vanished. The eyes pinned him. "I couldn't. Don't think I didn't try." Slender arms tightened around white-clad knees. "I...you saved my life, besides. It...there's already too much death." Wufei saw the taut body grow even more tense. "I couldn't add to it anymore than I already have."

Wufei thought the frail body might break if it became any more rigid. He sat up with an abruptness that made the other fall back a little. "Yamatte!"

"W-what?"

Wufei realized he had slipped into his native tongue and hastily corrected himself. "Stop. I am the one who did the killing."

"Before you got here--"

"It doesn't matter."

"But--"

"It does not matter."

There was a brief battle of wills. The few inches of space between them fairly crackled with warring power. Wufei was surprised at the amount of magic rolling off the other in dark waves, but he proved the stronger, if only because the acolyte was the lesser trained, and the haunted purple eyes finally flicked away in acquiescence.

"Alright. It doesn't matter." The statement didn't sound very sure, but Wufei didn't have time to pursue the point, because eye contact was reestablished, and a smile split the heart-shaped face. "Father Maxwell always told me not to worry things I can't change and Sister Helen told me to meet every day with a smile."

Wufei frowned, uneasy with the sudden change of attitude. He chose to answer with a neutral statement. "Good advice."

"Yeah. Too bad they're dead now, ne?" The cheerfulness took on a slightly hysterical edge. Wufei swallowed. "Ne, what's your name?"

"Wufei... Chang Wufei."

"Wufei? Funny name. And that language you used before--Eastern?"

"One of the many Eastern languages."

"Hey, don't get riled, Wu. I like your name and your language."

He scowled. "Hmph. What's your name?"

"Well..." the acolyte squirmed a bit. "People used to call me Duo, so I guess you can call me that."

"I'm pleased to meet you, Duo." It was a little awkward to bow while sitting, but he managed it. Then added, in his own tongue, "May the wind be kind and the sky be clear and the company always friendly." He tried and mostly succeeded in not thinking about the irony of that last statement.

The other's nose wrinkled, and Wufei blinked at the cute picture that made. "Hey, Wu, if you're going to keep doing that, you'd better put serious thought into teaching me the language."

He blinked again, and heard himself say, "I would be honored to teach you."

Nani?! Wufei no baka! What do you think you're doing? You have a mission!

"Great!" Purple eyes lit up and Wufei felt his breath catch in his throat, which only made him more confused. "Hey, now that you're up, let's get out of here, okay? I don't know if these guys were just the first wave of a bigger army, but I think we shouldn't stick around to find out."

"Yes."

Logical thought now firmly in motion, Wufei got to his feet, brushing twigs and leaves from his clothes, then offered a hand-up to Duo, who took it in a surprisingly firm grip and stood.

"I'm going to look for my pack and my sword."

"I'll...look for a change of clothes and what supplies can be dug up from..." Duo stopped.

Wufei nodded hastily, halting what might have been a painful attempt to finish the sentence. He squeezed the hand that was still in his grip; then dropped it quickly as soon as he realized what he was doing.

"Let's get going," he muttered, ducking his head as he walked past the other boy to hide the blush creeping into his cheeks. Duo blinked, then followed him.

On to Part 2
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