|
The Enemy a Friend Heero rubbed his bare arms and shuddered. He slogged through the driving snow, his chin touching his breastbone, his shoulders hunched, but nothing could protect him from the blizzard. Admit it, Yuy, a tanktop and shorts are just not the best thing to wear for winter. Even for you. Too bad it's too late to go back and get changed. He felt his eyelids growing heavy and suddenly the cold didn't seem to be so bad. It's getting warmer. Uso! Maybe I should just stop for a while and wait for it to warm up. When it warms up, I'll start moving again. No, this is hypothermia. Don't stop moving! Ninmu ryoukai. Heero fell to his knees in the snow. He just couldn't convince his frozen limbs to move any longer. He couldn't even feel his left leg anymore, though he knew from the red stain slowly spreading in the snow that the bullet wound in his thigh was still bleeding. Damn that mission. Damn especially getting caught hacking into the computers. I'm going to die. He slumped sideways and his shoulder hit something hard and unyielding. A building? Is this a wall or a fence or something? He couldn't summon the energy to try and find out. How ironic. The great Heero Yuy will be found tomorrow, a human Popsicle, and leaning against the nice, warm building that could have served as sanctuary. Great. Just as the warmth began to spread from his limbs and overwhelm him, he dreamed that strong hands grabbed him and picked him up. Someone cradled him against their chest like a baby and brought him into a place that, while it wasn't warm, it was out of the snow and wind. The blackness was complete.
When Heero awoke, the first thing he registered was that he wasn't dead. The second thing he registered was that he was naked and pressed against someone else's bare chest, with their arms wrapped around his torso from behind. The Perfect Soldier briefly considered shouting in surprise. He then examined the possible advantages obtained from roughly pushing the person away and yelling at them to keep their hands off him. Then he felt a wave of nausea and exhaustion hit him. He settled for shifting uncomfortably and saying in a raspy voice, "Dare da?" An uncomfortably familiar voice spoke into his ear. "Ahh, Heero Yuy desu ne? You seem much better now. Yokatta." "You saved my life." "Indeed." Heero suspected he knew who it was, but the name that came to mind was so impossible, he had to dismiss it. But how else could he have known who I was? Shut up. "Who are you?" he repeated, allowing an edge of irritation to creep into his voice. The owner of the breath that was tickling his ear sounded surprised. "You don't know?" Heero shook his head. "How could I?" "I am Treize Khushrenada, of course." Heero jerked. "You're a liar!" "How rude, speaking to your saviour in such a manner. I am Treize Khushrenada, and I saved your life. I don't think it's that difficult to understand." Heero digested that in silence. "Why do you have your arms wrapped around me?" Khushrenada sighed. "The answer, my boy, is two-fold. First, when I found you, you were suffering acutely from the cold, and your condition was made even more serious by loss of blood from what looks like a bullet wound in your leg. I needed to warm you up, and unfortunately given the facilities in this shack - or lack thereof - the only immediate solution I could come up with was to use my own body heat. Secondly, the blanket under which we are currently sheltering is too small for two people to lie under side-by-side, so rather than either of us freezing to death, this is the expedient solution. I hope it does not make you too uncomfortable." Heero snorted. "I'm glad to hear it," Treize replied amusedly. "And it was necessary for us to be nude, as well?" Heero asked. "Both of our clothes were soaked through. We wouldn't have gotten warm at all if we were wearing them." Heero reached down to his injured leg and felt the binding there. It felt like fine silk and he realized with a twinge that it was probably a part of Treize's uniform. "Arigatou," he muttered. "Pardon?" Treize's breathing had started to even out and his fingers had begun a slow, rhythmic motion, tracing patterns over Heero's taut stomach. The fingers stilled. "Arigatou, Treize," Heero repeated, a little louder. "For saving my life. You could have saved yourself a great deal more trouble if you had left me to die." "What a horrible person you must think me, Heero Yuy, if you think I could walk past an injured child without trying to help it. Do you see me lying here and sleeping peacefully, knowing that you were lying just outside the door, dying?" Heero grunted. "I suppose not." Though you did trick me into slaughtering those peacemakers, you bastard. "Even you could not be so cruel." "Heero," Treize sighed. "I know you may believe that I have wronged you in the past, and I apologize. I can only hope that you will forgive me at the end of this war. For now, let us trust each other and sleep." "Trust you?" Treize smiled, his lips just brushing the back of Heero's neck. "Is it so difficult a concept? If I had wanted to hurt you, I could have done so by now." "True enough. But you could be angling to take me prisoner when your rescuers come for you." "I am not so naïve as to think that a touch of hypothermia and a flesh wound to the leg would be enough to protect myself from you, should you wish to hurt me. Particularly when I am in such close proximity to you. I am in a painfully vulnerable position, here, Heero, and I'm sure you are aware of it." Heero grunted assent. "But when your rescuers come, you will be much safer from me, and may be able to capture me. I cannot fight them all in my condition." Treize was silent for a moment. "Allow me to propose a truce, then," he said pensively. "Should rescuers come for me before you are able to leave, I will guarantee your freedom and safety, if you will agree to grant me the same." Heero paused for a moment. There's no need for me to kill him at this point. And he *did* save my life. I owe him his. "Agreed. But in return for my not killing you now, we will consider any debt I might owe you in exchange for my life to be void." Treize chuckled. "Agreed. I never expected that you would owe me anything, anyway, Heero-kun." He paused. "Go to sleep, child. You are weak and injured. Sleep is the best thing for you right now." Heero nodded and closed his eyes, trying to dispel his tension at being so close to the man whose name he had cursed for weeks since the death of General Noventa. The General's fingers took up their motion again and, though it disturbed him slightly, Heero found it vaguely soothing. After a while, the soft caresses and the sound of Treize's breathing lulled him to sleep. | |
|
|