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"You will be his general." His father said not looking him in the eye.

"As you wish Papa." He said bowing and leaving him.

It has almost been a year since he was told that he would not be king. He sighed as he stepped out on the balcony. How could you cope with the thought that the only thing you have been prepared all your life to become you will never be?

And now he was supposed to be his brother's general. An insult.

His eyes drifted to the splash of brown bobbing up and down behind some bushes in the garden.

"Trowa!" he called him. "Come here and look!" the older boy sighed.

Duo was showing him a nest of reed birds swaying in the tall grass. His violet eyes lighting up as he pointed to all the nests he had found. Trowa looked at his younger sibling and put his hand on the boy's arm stopping him from his running commentary of the reed bird's hunting habits.

"Duo."

"Yeah?" he asked smiling.

"Promise me one thing."

"Anything brother."

"Promise me you will never set me aside." He looked at his older brother, not quite sure what he was asking. "Promise me Duo, please." As he heard the word please his heart stopped. He had never heard his eldest brother utter those words and he didn't care if he was asking for the moon. He would promise anything to keep his brother from the endless pit of despair he was spiraling towards.

"I promise."

***

It had been five years since he left. Five years since he made that promise.

Trowa left him in the garden that afternoon and when he joined his family for feeding, he learned that his brother was gone. Not a word. Not one.

And now, after so long he was told that the missing piece had finally returned.

***

"So it is true, you have come back." He turned around to find himself face to face with a boy almost as tall as him, hair a long silk thread, his skin fair as a woman's and his eyes an exquisite shade of violet. He almost didn't recognize him.

"Welcome home brother." He smiled.

"Duo?" he said not believing his eyes.

"Of course." He laughed. His brother was tanned, his hair long and unruly and on his face almost hidden by his bangs a small beard invaded his face. He was thirty-three. Yet his face remained perpetually eighteen, a gift of eternal youth was given to, a consolation if you will. "What took you so long to return?"

"I had no reason to."

"And now?"

"You are turning eighteen." He smiled.

"Duo, you are summoned now." Catherine called.

***

He entered the throne room, his father and mother sitting on their tall cathedra, their hands clasped. Heero stood beside his father and Trowa stood beside him. Catherine sat by her mother's feet.

"Duo you have come of age." His father said in a formal tone. "And now you must learn of the truth that your blood binds you too."

And he began to relate the history of their clan to Duo. At the end when all was said his eyes fell to the floor, letting everything sink in.

"Duo." He looked up at his mother.

"There is one last thing you must know." she smiled warmly. "I am not your mother love."

Duo's eyes clouded over, he could take the truth that he would need to aid in the genocide of his friends but he could not comprehend the truth that his family, the only thing he really cared for, the only thing that was real to him was a lie.

"What are you saying Mama?"

"Your father…" she looked at him.

"I took you in when your real mother died." He said looking down at his son.

"Oh but Duo I have always treated you as my own." Sally called reaching to the tear-stained boy beneath her.

"As have I child." His father agreed. Duo looked up at his family, their deception and the falseness of his identity alienating him from them. And suddenly the thrones seemed so high above him and that his own eyes seemed so different from theirs and he ran out of the room.

***

He placed his chin on his knees and drew his arms around himself. It was getting cold and he had not fed but he could not bring himself to return.

He sat down beside him not making a sound.

"They are looking for you. We ought to return." He said.

"I do not belong there." He whispered sullenly.

"And where to you belong?"

"No where."

"I too used to believe that. But I found out that every person has a place." He said throwing a rock into the pond, the ripples lapping at their feet. "It took me five years to find my place and I do not plan on losing it again."

"Where?" he asked looking up.

"Here." He motioned on the spot beside Duo. Duo smiled and Trowa looked at him. "There, stop this foolishness and let me see you smile." He tilted his face up and stroked his chin with his thumb. And slowly he brought his lips down on the younger boy's.

***

He felt his lips with his finger, he still could not believe his eldest brother just gave him his first kiss. When he returned they had buried him under hugs and kisses and promises that he was as much part of their family as anyone of them. But his eyes strayed to the boy in the shadows, blue eyes looking back at him.

"Duo have you been avoiding me?" he asked as he caught the younger boy reading alone in the library a few days after the incident by the pond.

"What makes you say that brother?" he asked looking up, an apprehensive smile on his lips.

"I cannot seem to find you alone and every time I do it seems you are always needed elsewhere." He said sitting on the table beside the book his brother was reading.

"I am sorry if I have no time for you, but you must understand I have things to attend to."

"If you did not wish what happened the other day at the pond to be repeated all you have to do is say so." He said looking away.

Duo stood up preparing to leave. He did not need for this to happen now, someone already owned his heart. "I do not wish for it to happen once more."

Trowa turned him around and held him tightly in his arms as he brought his lips down for a rough kiss. Duo looked up stunned. "Now tell me again you do not wish for it to happen."

"I…I…" he felt his knees go weak and he drew his face nearer as he sought another kiss. And they held each other in the library as their passions grew and were consummated.

***

And as the days stretched into months they found themselves happy in each other's arms. Stealing moments when they could and promising things they were not supposed to. Both feeling alienated from the family they loved and both finding consolation in each other's arms.

The king and queen knew of their relationship but neither said a word. They pretended that the longing stares and holding of hands did not happen in their presence. It was not uncommon for such things to occur. They had actually intended one of their boys to marry Catherine but something about the way Trowa treated the youngest made them uneasy. Something had happened to Trowa when he was away and they knew Duo would be the one that would feel its repercussion. But they could not do anything for they did not rule over the feelings of their own children just as they had no control over their fate.

***

"Duo." Heero called as he entered the room. The younger boy looked up.

"Hey Heero." He smiled.

"I…" he stopped unsure of what to say.

"Yes?"

"Nothing." He said leaving. He came there to lecture the boy on his conduct and to scold him for letting Trowa seduce him, to tell him of the risks he was taking and of how…how he missed him. And as he looked into that face he had secretly loved for so long, his words failed him.

He blamed himself for taking Trowa's crown although it was not his fault and somehow he could not take Duo away from him as well, he could not take this one joy form him. So he swallowed his pain and pretended that his heart did not bleed every time he saw his older brother's hand find his.

"Hey Heero!" he called as the other boy turned to leave. "The reed birds have begun building their nests, wanna come watch?" he asked and Heero smiled.

They had spent hours up to their waists in water watching the little brown birds weave twigs in beautiful patterns between reeds. This was the only escape Heero had from his royal duties and this was where he fell in love with his youngest brother.

He loved the way his eyes lit up when he found a new nest, or when he would jump up and down when the fireflies would dance around them. He loved the way he pouted every time he did not get what he wanted and how he blew air from his mouth when he was thinking. He had been in love with him for so long he did not know how to live each day knowing that another owned him.

This was his secret.

"Duo…" he whispered. And as the other boy turned to look at him the snow began to fall. His long hair had come undone from its usual braid and his cheeks reddened with the sudden change in temperature. His hair flittering around him, his lips redder than he had ever seen it, his skin ivory as the snowflakes around him and his eyes mirroring the moon. And Heero died. Died, as he knew he would never be his and that he would love him and only him forever.

"Yeah Heero?" he asked tucking his older brother's hair behind his ears.

"I…"

"Duo!" Trowa's voice seemed to banish the moment of bliss.

"Trowa!" he called, his eyes suddenly lighting up with distress.

"What are you doing there?" he called as Duo wadded towards the bank.

"Nothing I was just sightseeing." The younger boy smiled nervously.

"Who are you with Duo?" His lover asked not caring to mask his dislike; his eyes narrowed as a figure came wadding beside Duo.

"Heero." He said innocently, and this triggered everything. Something cracked inside Trowa's head.

"Duo come inside now." he almost screamed.

"What's the matter Trowa?" he asked alarm welling up inside of him.

"Do I have to repeat myself?" he asked contempt directed toward the faultless boy.

"N…No." he uttered looking back at Heero, a plea for help. As Heero was about to intervene and reach for his youngest sibling Trowa pulled him from his grasp and dragged him inside.

Heero looked on. He could do nothing. And he ran into the forest.

***

He did not know how long he had been running or how far he had come. He just closed his eyes and dared to outrun the demons that were eating him from within.

"Because it is my fault." He whispered falling to his knees gasping for air. "It is all my fault."

"Whatever it is believe me you are not to blame." A voice called over the bushes. Heero suddenly stood up he would have turned around and left but his pulse rate was throbbing out of control. He had not fed.

He walked out of the bushes and into the small clearing focusing his eyes on the lone figure huddled beside a campfire.

"No one is to blame for what we choose to become." He continued looking up and Heero held his breath, he was beautiful. His blue eyes almost black in the darkness and his hair golden as the fire he now tended. He seemed familiar somehow.

"And what have you become?" he asked drawing closer.

"Anything you want me to be." He said smiling suggestively.

"Hn." He said sitting down beside him. "I am not easily pleased."

The older man laughed out loud, he wanted to spend time away from the castle and the perfect princess but he never anticipated that he would discover such a find in the brush. The boy was painfully handsome and the innocence that surrounded him made taking him even more appetizing.

"Oh I will please you, make no mistake about that." He said drawing closer him. Heero brought his lips to meet his and he smiled. "Uh uh…" the blond man placed his fingers on the boy's tempting lips.

"You will not take my life soul eater." He winked. Unlike Heero, he remembered faces of the children with earth-colored hair that had caught his eyes that day years ago. And he had dreamt of them ever since.

"You know what I am?" Heero asked his brow raised in confusion.

"Yes." He smiled. "I can offer you something else in exchange for my life." He muttered trailing his finger down the other's chest, undoing his buttons slowly. "If you let me."

"There is nothing you can offer me that I have not experienced." He said aware of what the other man was insinuating.

"Not like this you haven't." he said drawing the boy into his embrace.

***

He felt the back of his hand pelt across his cheek. He blinked his eyes trying to force the tears not to fall.

"What were you doing with him?" he almost screamed.

"I…I…" he said his tongue unwilling.

"Did I not tell you that you were mine?" he whispered menacingly. "I own you, your body, your smile, your whole fucking life."

Duo cringed from his words. There was a side to Trowa almost no one ever saw. But Duo did. And this made him fear his lover more than anything in his life.

"I…I am sorry Trowa." He muttered.

"Oh I will make you sorry." He said pulling him by the hair and bringing him to the fireplace. There he put his pendant shaped like a circle with his emblem in the center to the fire.

"Trowa! I promise please don't!" but Trowa's anger was beyond reason and nothing could reach him now. He pulled Duo's shirt from his shoulders and turned him around.

"Trowa please!" he whimpered.

"This will make you remember." He whispered placing the pendant in the space between his shoulders searing his flesh, marking him.

***

He shuddered falling upon the boy beneath him. He closed his eyes and smiled in his satisfaction. He curled his body around his lover's and he inhaled his scent reliving each and every sensation that they had just shared. He felt his partner stir and move out of his embrace. He watched him dress memorizing every ounce of flesh he was fortunate enough to see.

"I will be here five days from now." he called not wanting the moment to end just yet. The boy did not answer him.

When he finished he looked back at the man lounging in the discarded clothes unashamed of his nakedness. He was beautiful and he had never experienced making love the way he had with him but his heart belonged to another and he would not betray him once more.

"Will I ever see my blue-eyed nymph again?" he asked coyly.

"Perhaps." Was all he said before he turned around and never looked back.

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