Duo woke up for a moment as he felt someone slide into bed beside him. He froze in fright until he felt familiar warm arms embrace him and draw him close.

"It's all right," Heero whispered. "It's me."

Duo grinned and eased his body against Heero's, laying his head on his chest. "You startled me," he murmured.

"And who did you think I was?" Heero replied, one hand reaching behind Duo's back to stroke his hair.

"I don't know...I thought maybe a real assassin...I've heard they're not too particular in who they kill."

Heero frowned even as Duo nuzzled closer. If an assassin did manage to get through Wufei's wards, where would that leave his poor Duo, still naked and in chains? And since when is he "my poor Duo? "No, they aren't," he said softly. "If I wasn't around, they'd kill you just to make a point to me."

"But...you'll keep me safe and sound, right?" Duo asked.

Heero glanced down and found Duo staring up into his eyes. He looks so trusting..."Yes. But...I can't be near you all the time." He reached into the night stand and pulled out an iron key on a large ring, then gently brought Duo's arms up and unlocked the manacles. Tossing them onto the floor, he merely watched as Duo grinned in delight and rubbed the soreness from his wrists. When Duo looked up at him with those gorgeous violet eyes, though, Heero couldn't resist reaching one hand out and caressing Duo's cheek.

At his touch, Duo seemed to collapse back into himself and the cheery smile vanished from his face. He flinched and started to tremble. Heero's first instinct was to slap him back into obedience, or complete the command geis Wufei had set. Before he could harden his hand, though, he remembered Sally telling him that Duo had been raped. Any sexual encounter would be colored by that awful experience.

"It's all right," Heero said, trying to make his flat monotone sound comforting instead of cold.

Duo shook his head mournfully. "You...you don't understand...you wouldn't want me...I...I was..."

"I know," Heero interrupted. He placed one hand on Duo's shoulder and firmly pressed him back onto the bed.

"You know...?!" Duo whispered in shock. "How...?"

"I had my doctor check up on you. She said it happened recently, too." Heero wanted to press further, question Duo as to who it had been and where that person was so he could personally execute him. The miserable look on Duo's face convinced him otherwise, though. All that can wait. Right now, I need to calm him down so that he isn't afraid of me.

"I...I'm sorry," Duo mumbled, trying to hide his face in the pillow.

Heero shook his head slowly. "Why are you sorry about being raped? It wasn't your choice."

"I can usually run away," Duo whispered. "They never caught me before. They always tried, but I always got away..."

"They?" Heero asked incredulously.

Duo, however, thought that Heero's tone meant that the prince was even more disgusted with him. His pretty thief was just a street whore, he must think that now. If he had only run a little bit faster, leaped the fence properly..."I was carrying too many apples," he said in a soft voice.

"What?"

"Apples...I steal them for the kids...I mean, I stole them, I guess I can't do that anymore...I had just one too many..." Tears started trickling from his eyes again, and he shut them in a vain attempt to hold them back. "One...fell out, and I tripped...instead of jumping, I fell..."

He felt the weight on the bed shift, and when he looked, Heero was already sitting up and pulling his robe on. "I'll be back in a few minutes," the prince said. "Don't move."

No chance of that, Duo thought as he watched Heero leave. The moment the door closed, tears poured from his eyes and he forced his face into the pillow to muffle his sobs. Perhaps the most beautiful boy he'd ever met...and Duo repulsed him so much Heero had not wasted time ordering him out. He'd just left.

For a moment he considered leaping out of the window to the hard ground below, but then he shook his head. No, Heero had ordered him not to move. No matter what, he would do what Heero commanded.

Heero, meanwhile, had no idea his command had just saved Duo from suicide. In fact, he had no idea what was going through Duo's head. "This is ridiculous," he muttered to himself. "I can read an enemy's move before he makes it, I can outmaneuver the best general's on the field, I can run political rings around the court, but I can't understand the mind of a lowly slave? A thief?"

He looked up at the door in front of him and shook his head. He knew the palace so well his feet knew where to take him without needing his help. And once again, he hated it. Living cooped up, planning stratagems within stratagems with backup plans and counter-measures, never going outside except to preside over executions...He knocked on the door. "Sally!"

The door rattled and Sally's voice came from the wood itself. "She's not here, would you like to leave a message?"

Heero opened the door and stepped in, finding his physician at her desk with several bottles before her. She looked up and smiled wearily at him. "Sorry, Heero. I thought you were one of the servants."

He smirked as he shut the door. "They must be hounding you to require one of Wufei's 'superstitious' spells."

"Something like that. After we finished with the interviews, we had servants coming up to us all day, trying to get on our good side. Finally your sorcerer just cooked up some 'servant wards' for all of us, even me."

"He should be saving his strength," Heero frowned. "He has to reinforce the palace wards."

"I'm sure Treize will have him all tucked in," Sally grinned. "Speaking of which, I'm just about done with those teas for Duo."

"Good, that's why I came," Heero nodded. "I told him I knew about his rape, and he seems to have fallen to pieces."

Sally stopped short as she gathered the wooden boxes beside her. "He's crying?"

Heero nodded.

"And you just left him there?"

Heero tilted his head. "Is that bad?"

Sally sighed and closed her eyes. "Permission to speak freely, sir?"

"You are expected to speak to me honestly and openly," Heero said. "You are one of the few people I've given that privilege."

"Okay, then. Heero, you are one cold-blooded bastard, you know that?"

Heero blinked. That was a bit too open. "What?"

"You care about him, right?" Sally asked. "You don't abandon people you care about when they're emotionally vulnerable. He needs you to hold him and tell him he isn't worthless."

"I..." Heero stood still, at a loss for words. I care about him, don't I?

Sally waved her hand apologetically. "Sorry, Heero. I tend to forget that you're a bit emotionally short-changed." She placed most of the small boxes in one large box, but she kept one out as she headed to the counter in the corner. A little pot hung over an equally little fire, the water already boiling. Carefully grasping the handle, she brought it to her desk and poured some into a glass, dropping the leaves in afterward. "This should be ready to drink in a few minutes. It'll relax him and hopefully make him stop crying. You might want to have some, too."

"Me?" he asked, blinking.

"Mm-hmm. It might help you empathize with him a little and understand his feelings." She sighed and carefully looked him over as she added a dollop of honey to the tea. "Or at the very least, it will make you relax. Maybe then you can show him a bit of what you're feeling."

Gingerly handing the hot glass to him, she pushed the box holding the rest of the tea leaves into his arms and shooed him out the door. Blinking in surprise at how fast that had happened, Heero found himself standing outside wondering if his closest companions really did have too much liberty or if they felt he truly needed their advice.

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