In Sickness

thewhore


Title: The Whore
Summary: AU, hinted at 3+4 & 4+3, A Dying man's caretaker is forced to run his estate for two years, but things are changing.
Disclaimer: I don't own characters.
Other: Duo centered chapter, rated R for language and such. A more edited version of this story may or may not be added at a later date. The content and plot will not change though.
The Whore
Trowa opened the door widely and the figures stepped in removing the hoods of their cloaks. Three rather wet and uncomfortable looking male faces stared glumly about the wide expansive of entrance way to the castle. The first had piercing blue eyes and short almost spiked hair. Trowa had seen him once before, once a long time ago in battle. The man's name was Heero Yuy, an assassin, by occupation. The second one had long braided brown hair and a mischievous glint to his eyes; he peered around curiously, smiling slightly since he was out of the rain. The final man had sleek black hair pulled into a ponytail, very Asian features, and a hurried disinterested look about him. Trowa cleared his throat before speaking, and the three eyes darted directly to his, he nearly sighed. It had been a long time since he'd last seen people. He wasn't sure if he liked it.
"Welcome to the Winner estate, I am the caretaker. The owner of this castle is indisposed at the moment. My name is Trowa Barton." His eyes politely waited for their answering names.
"Heero Yuy."
"I'm Duo Maxwell, or Shinigami God of Death, pleasure to meet you." Duo grabbed Trowa's unoutstretched hand and shook it almost to the point of pain.
"Wufei Chang." Trowa noticed with slight amusement that the tip of Wufei's pony tail shook a little as he spoke, somehow he didn't think Wufei would appreciate that much.
"I'll show you to your rooms." With that Trowa led them up the stairs. Duo too bored and wet to pay attention to manners spoke up.
"So indisposed, eh. Is he sick or something?"
"Yes." Trowa muttered before motioning down the hallway. "You may choose any room you like, save for the first one here at the end of the hallway. The bathroom is the third door from the left. Some form of breakfast will be available to you at seven. If you have any trouble starting a fire or opening a chute I'll be in this first room here, please knock softly. Good-night." With that Trowa slid into Quatre's room and closed the door. Quatre's eyes were closed in sleep. He slept longer and longer these days, sometimes Trowa wondered if he had occasionally slipped into a coma. Shrugging off a few layers of his clothes, and discomforted by the coldness of the strangers and people in general he got into bed beside Quatre, wrapped his arms around his thin almost nonexistent frame and fell asleep.
Outside Duo peered down the hallway. He really wasn't in the mood for creepy castles. Wufei quickly disappeared into the door farthest away from the stairs. Heero took a door in the middle. Duo sighed and took the one opposite to him.
Sliding into his room Duo's wet hands sought the lever to open the chute, and then the matches with which to s the the fire. After several tries and sooty hands a fire began to inch its way towards oxygen. Duo sighed pulled off his wet clothes and crawled under the covers. He lay awake though watching the shadows that the fire cast on the roof of the canopy bed. His ears tingled alert to the sensation of rain. The day had been long and vexing for him, and he longed more than anything to close his eyes, but stress pinned his eyelids open and kept his mind churning.
For the past month or so he had been working at a brothel; a dirty unclean whorehouse that catered to the lowliest of men and held the most abused and unkempt whores. On his off days he would lay in his "room" listening to screams of other boys or the silence of their cries. The owner was a very shrewd man who accumulated people as payment for IOUs. Most of the employees never wanted to be used as soft pieces of fuckable flesh, but they weren't give that option. He would have never worked there if he hadn't broken his leg. Breaking his leg disabled him severely as he could not run fast enough to steal money or food and his foot steps grew too saturated with pain to sneak quietly into a horse stable.
That morning he'd been fired. Fired for biting someone. To him it made perfect sense, if sne bne back hands you, you back hand them right back, and eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. The man who he was "entertaining" far more than backhanded him. While Duo proceeded with a very delicate operation the man took his sword and began to cut Duo, not thin fragile cuts, but deep scarring gushing cuts. Duo counted to two before he bit down on the man and fifteen minutes later was promptly thrown out into the street.
"Fine." He'd muttered glaring evilly at the door then smirked loudly and gathered himself. Smoothing back his hair he screamed at the top of his lungs towards the closed door: "I never wanted to be a WHORE anyway!" In truth he hadn't liked the institution much, they were stingy with his payment, and most of the time required him to dress and wear makeup that women might. He spit onto the ground and shuffled off to some dark recess to plot how to leave the vile city.
His chance came later that day when he spied a crippled grocer pushing his cart a long the street corner. While the Grocer was accepting payment form a customer Duo stole a few items off his cart and attempted to speed off. Not used to running and his leg still weak form lack of use he tripped enabling the grocer to catch up to him. Duo looked frantically around caught sight of a man who seemed highly respectable and latched onto him.
"This is my friend. He will pay you for the vegetables." With that Duo tugged the man's coin purse from his side, pushed the man into the grocer, and took off running. He managed perhaps eighty feet before the respectable man caught up to him. Duo jumped on a departing carriage and stuck his tongue out at the man as he moved quickly out of the city limits.
After the man had drifted out of view and thinking he was free of the man and the Grocer he opened the purse. A fair amount of money spilled into his hands, happily he stuck them into his own secret hiding places amongst his clothing. Something was still wedged into the very bottom of the purse; he stuck his hand in and pulled a piece of paper. Duo frowned, he'd never been able to read all that well, and the script was in a foreign tongue he'd only seen once or twice before. He only managed tke oke out the signature at the bottom. In rough scratchy writing it was signed "Nataku." Duo shrugged, so he'd stolen Nataku's purse. He placed the note back into the purse, and nearly tumbled off the carriage as it took a sharp turn. He jumped off anyway though needing to stay on the main road.
He'd walked for a good thirty minutes before he even sensed "Nataku" creeping up close to him to perhaps smother him to death, again he took off running. His heart began to race with the thrill of adrenaline and speed. He watched a silk merchant cut off Nataku's path, he chuckled softly to himself, thinking that was what this Nataku deserved. Turning around to laugh was a bad idea and he ran smack into a very firm warm object; otherwise known as a human. The man he ran into turned around and fixed a stare on him as cold as death, he reached down and lifted Duo off the ground by his collar. By that time Nataku had caught up to them.
"Is this your's?" The man asked his voice as calm and as even as a still lake. Not even seeming to care that Duo had run into him.
"Hi, how's it goin' Nataku?" Duo smiled happily at him. Nataku's harsh eyes harshened, and his face paled slightly.
"Where did you hear that name?"
"It was on one of your letters." Nataku tore the purse off of Duo's side. "Hey, easy Buddy!" Duo muttered and turned his gaze to stare at the man who was holding him, he twisted slightly. "Ya mind?" The man promptly dropped him hard onto the cobblestones.
"My name's Wufei, you dishonorable cretin. Where's the money?" Wufei loomed over him, his ponytail bobbing as he spoke.
"What money? Yer broke!" Duo eased himself off the ground. He glanced at the footsteps departing from behind him; the man with the calm voice was walking away. Duo smirked, he'd liked that guy, he really had. Even if his hands were cold. Wufei on the other hand stood very close, his hands twitched as if anticipating a harmful blow. Duo gulped but let his "I'm an angel smile" blossom through his lips. "Hey...well since I did steal your purse and all. I suppose I could give ya a little of my money. You know, no hard feelings." Wufei's lips tensed slightly, the sides of his face flattened in anger. Duo's smile broadened in response. "You see I just left it in this tree over--" and he took off running again, past the mysterious man, and far up the road. The chase continued until it began to poor, a sudden storm rising over the placidly blue day. Within five minutes the three were soaked to the bone and in no mood to run at all. Wufei continued to glare at Duo though sopping wet and droopy he looked almost like a tall-disgruntled troll.
Time grew long with the rain, it weighed down upon the atmosphere; a hot towel against cold sheets. Twenty minutes may have passed though it felt like four hours before they'd come upon the castle.
Duo's mind flickered away from memory. Feeling sleep creep upon him he blinked his eyes slowly. The last thing he heard before drifting off was the heavy sound of the rain torturing the roof.