Wufei stared broodingly at his silent friend, fingering the sword hilt at his waist absently. The elven prince had been acting strangely for the past few days--no one else seemed to have noticed, but Wufei wasn't Heero's best friend for nothing. Lately, the other boy's glares had been half-hearted attempts at best, more like a conditioned reflex than anything else, and, even more alarming, was the fact that Wufei had actually been able to count on the fingers of one hand the number of times Heero'd muttered 'Omae wo korosu'. That was practically unheard of, seeing as that phrase was Heero's usual greeting to anyone who displeased him, those people mostly being everyone he met. His friend hadn't even threatened that annoying woman when she'd shown up wailing for his attention! He'd not even glared, just brushed her off and walked away. Wufei was seriously beginning to worry. It was just so...not Heero.

If his friend had been anyone else, he'd just've assumed the other was sick and acted accordingly, but this was the 'Perfect Soldier' they were talking about. Heero never got sick. Elves were such a hardy bunch. Wufei sighed, ruffling his wings irritably. It was damned unfair, he groused to himself. Goddess bless, sometimes he wished he'd been born an elf. His own people were such...delicate creatures. He growled softly. If he ever got his hands on the cosmic jokester who'd dumped him in this body, he was going to introduce him to the sharp edge of his sword. Slowly. And painfully. With lots of blood and screaming. Yes, screaming was good.

Reluctantly shaking off the satisfyingly blood-thirsty images, Wufei spread his iridiscent wings and flew down from the wooden beam he'd been standing on. It was time to find out just what was bothering Heero. His weird behavior was starting to get on his nerves.

"Heero."

The dark-haired boy continued to stare out the window, cobalt eyes slightly unfocused as though seeing something other than the wildly blooming gardens below.

Wufei bit back a curse and tried again. Louder this time.

"Heero!"

The elven prince just sighed softly, staring at the window in fascination as his faint reflection slowly became indistinct, blurring at the edges. Spiky dark hair grew longer, and turned the color of sun-kissed chestnut. Blue eyes gradually darkened, and turned an entrancing violet. So deep, those eyes. So full of secrets he'd like to--

"HEERO!!!"

A small, but firm hand landed on his shoulder, whipping him around to meet a pair of annoyed brown eyes. Said eyes were set in a lightly bronzed face, a face whose delicate features were currently twisted into a fierce scowl.

"Just what in Hades is your problem, Yuy?!? Couldn't you hear me calling?!"

Heero blinked, fantasy shattering into a million shards. "W-Wufei?"

The smaller boy rolled his eyes. "Who else would it be, baka?" he asked, crossing his arms irritably in front of his chest. "Well? Aren't you going to explain yourself?" he demanded impatiently.

Heero shook his head slightly to clear it of the last remnants of his daydream. "What?"

Wufei huffed in exasperation, but his dark eyes clouded over with the faintest traces of worry. It wasn't like Heero to let his mind wander like this. "What is going on with you, Heero?" he asked, voice taking on a softer tone. "You haven't been yourself lately."

The elven prince turned his back to his companion, not wanting the other to see the welter of conflicting emotions flickering in his eyes.

"It's nothing."

Wufei's eyes narrowed.

"Yuy..." he growled, glaring at the back of his friend's head. "Stop being an idiot and talk to me!"

Heero sighed, leaning his head against the cool panes of the window. "...Go away, Wufei."

"Not a chance, Yuy!" The slender boy plunked himself down on the floor, a stubborn expression on his face. "I'm not leaving until you tell me what's going on!"

"Hn, suki na you ni shinasai(1)," Heero replied coldly, uncurling himself from the window seat and standing up to leave.

(1) Do as you like.

<Kisama!!>

Muttering darkly under his breath, the dark-haired fairy quickly got up and followed.

<You're not getting away from me that easily, Yuy!>

Several hours of aimless wandering later, a noticeable tic had developed under the exotic boy's left eye.

<K-kisama!!> Wufei glared daggers at the elven prince's back, doggedly flying after the ungrateful bastard. Of all the sentient creatures in the world, he just had to choose an anti-social, homicidal, psychotic elf to befriend. <Chikusho! Where's the hell is the justice in that?!>

The sound of his teeth grinding together could be heard over the soft, rhythmic fluttering of his wings.

Heero eyed the silently fuming boy and sighed, shaking his head slightly in defeat. Wufei was dead set on getting him to talk, and he knew it was only a matter of time before the other boy got his way. When he felt like it, the fey youth could make mules look amiable.

Today appeared to be one of those days.

Sigh.

<Oh, what the hell...>

His decision made, the dark-haired prince stopped and turned to look at his friend. "Ne, Wufei?"

The winged boy came to an abrupt halt, sparkles of fairy dust scattering around him as he hovered in mid-air. "What?" he ground out, raking a hand through his long ebon hair.

Cobalt eyes bored into orbs of dark brown. "Would you like to go for a ride?"

It was a beautiful spring day. Clear blue skies stretched out for miles, framing majestic, snow-capped mountains that seemed to march off into infinity. Playful sprites chased each other between wind- smoothed rocks, their happy laughter echoing off the jagged peaks. Off in the distance, an eagle soared, lazily circling the craggy rocks for prey.

It was a day that positively reeked of peace and tranquillity.

Hiei sighed, exhaling a loud gust of air. He was so completely and totally bored. He glared at the peaceful panorama stretching out before him. Damn, nothing interesting ever happened here.

Check that, almost nothing interesting.

Hiei scowled, remembering the last bit of excitement they'd had, when that idiot human had come and somehow persuaded his sister to marry him. His expression darkened, the memory of Sir Kuwabara's overenthusiastic courtship setting his teeth on edge yet again. What Yukina saw in that carrot-topped loud mouth he still didn't know. <Although, considering how utterly boring it is up here...maybe she married him for the comic relief.>

The thought made his lips curl up in a smirk.

Levering his large, black-scaled body up, the young dragon decided to go and pay his sister and her blockhead of a husband a visit. It was high time he went and resumed making Kuwabara's life a living hell. No sense in letting that moron think that getting a dragon princess to marry him automatically entitled him to live the easy life.

Who knew, he might actually manage to chase the idiot away this time.

With a positively evil cackle, Hiei took to the skies.

"But Father, I can't possibly--"

"The discussion is over, Kurama." The black-haired king's voice was colder than the frozen depths of the Northern Sea. "You will obey me in this."

"Demo--!"

"You aren't, by any chance, going to disregard my wishes, are you my son?" Yomi asked menacingly, hard eyes boring into darkened emerald orbs. "I thought we'd taken care of that little misunderstanding." Long fingers stroked the handle of a sickeningly familiar whip. "Or do you need another lesson?"

Slender shoulders stiffened, then slumped in defeat.

"Iie," the younger noble whispered, head bowed.

The king moved closer to the prince's taut form, hand darting out to lift the boy's face to meet his own. Large green eyes stared back at him in fear.

"I trust that we...understand each other?" Yomi's fingers lovingly moved over the boy's delicate skin.

Kurama flinched away from the soft caress. Twisting away from his father's grasp, the young redhead managed a choked "Yes", before swimming out of the room, his slender figure shuddering with surpressed sobs.

Possessive eyes stared after the fleeing form.

<Ah, Kurama...my son...>

Elegant fingers were lifted, and brushed against smiling lips.

<My own.>

With a husky, self-satisfied laugh, the insane monarch turned and seated himself back on his throne.

<Mine.>

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