28-June-2002
Pet Shop of Horrors: Earthsong
by bonnejeanne and cassiopeia
Title: Earthsong
Author: bonnejeanne (bonnejeanne@yahoo.com) and Cassiopeia (cassiopeia@gundamwing.net)
Archive: http://www.no-assumptions.com/gundamwing/
Category: yaoi, AU
Rating: NC-17
Spoilers: Series
WARNINGS: Lemon/Limey stuff, AU
Disclaimer: Pet Shop of Horrors characters and universe are the property of the copyright owners. Our stuff is ours. No money being made here. As with all our fics, while our goal is to stay as in character as possible, any discrepancies are our mistakes.
Feedback: Any and all comments welcome, be they short or long.
NOTES: This is a sequel to our first fic, "Blood". See Part One for full Notes.
Earthsong: Part Two
Revving the engine, Leon reached down a little to shift gears, making his way through the thick city traffic with a reckless flare. "You want the truth? Fine. The animal you're looking for is some kind of rare lizard. I don't know where it is now. If you think you want to find it, you might want to think again. I can tell you, it isn't friendly." Leon took the upcoming corner sharply, tossing his passenger to the side, then continued as he raced along the now much less populated street, heading in the opposite direction of Chinatown. "The man we're going to see, after a little stop I have to make on the way, could probably tell you where the thing is." Leon smiled to himself. 'Could' was definitely the operative word there.
"Lying again," Chang said, still looking out the window. Then he cocked his head slightly. "Or... half lying. Slight progress. Who is this man? You are referring to the pet shop keeper?"
"Yeah, he runs the shop." Leon thought about it for a minute, then added, "Keeps it for his grandfather. Lots of rare stuff in there. You should like him. The Count, I mean. He's one of you. Chinese, aren't you?" He kept his voice level as he drove, attentive to anything in the boy's voice or demeanor that might betray his purpose in all of this.
"Nice guess," Chang answered dryly. "Must be your extensive experience here in Chinatown." His eyes tracked the surroundings idly. "The... 'lizard'... is even more rare than the birds it killed for food. It was never supposed to have been taken out of the country and it is extremely important that I find it and take it back. Whatever happened to my uncle... he deserved. He was psychotic and insane and willing to do any damage to any one to get what he desired."
Leon was a little surprised by the boy's words, but did not take them entirely to heart. "There's something we agree on. Your uncle was nuts. But he deserved a lot worse than he got." The detective gripped the steering wheel tighter until his knuckles showed white, then relaxed his hands a little. He regarded Chang, again from the corner of his eye, and was struck by the same feeling he'd had earlier, of not being quite sure what to make of the young man. "I guess you know what your uncle desired, then. I was never clear on that point."
"This time you guess incorrectly," Chang replied. "I have no idea what the madman wanted, only that he was willing to sacrifice the future of many people to get it. If he'd been living, I would have remedied the situation before returning home with the... 'lizard'."
Leon snorted and shook his head. "If that lizard hadn't gotten him, I would have 'remedied the situation' long before you got a chance." Gazing to his left and right, Leon could see that they had almost reached their destination. He was trying to find the place from memory, but he felt certain it was just a few blocks further out. They were in a rich shopping district now, every store front the kind of place he normally could not be dragged into. The kinds of places where it seemed like they probably charged you at the door, just to get inside.
"Nice to know the police force is prepared to perform any service," Chang said with an ironic smile. He was filing away the overtones in Leon's conversation for what they might be worth. There were a large number of things he didn't get about the situation yet but he would understand it all very soon. That he planned to make certain of.
"All in the name of justice," Leon replied, paying close attention to the sidewalks in front of him. He thought he saw the store in question, a women's apparel shop, the name half in French. He was not surprised to find the store had gone out of business, though it made up the only empty slot in the area, and he parked in front of it, between two other cars against the curb. Leon could remember clearly being called out here, on the outskirts of their jurisdiction, when the owner of the store had been murdered in one of his more bizarre non-pet-shop cases. But it was not this empty store that interested him. Rather, it was the one on the opposite side of the street.
Leon had to admit, the only reason he had noticed the small (some would have probably used the word 'quaint', but he sure didn't see it) shop was due mostly to the girls working there. The costumes they wore were... very short, very ruffley, very silly, he thought, but still... hard not to notice. Some kind of folk costumes, the dresses... he associated them with places of high altitude, where it snowed a lot. Not that he couldn't have looked at the sign over the door and seen that the country he was thinking of was Switzerland.
Without waiting for Chang, Leon left the car and crossed the street. He did pause for a moment before opening the door to the shop, perhaps not so much to see if the young Chinese man was following him, but more to brace himself before entering. He knew he was going to hate this.
Chang managed to look as if he was simply accompanying the blond American in spite of Leon's disregarding movement. He also managed to look like he was entirely uninterested in everything around him, while collecting information at a high volume.
As Leon pushed his way inside the elaborate store, a hard wave of cool air resisting and then inviting him, he did not waste any time trying to browse, heading straight for the front counter. En route, he did manage to spy several items, some of which looked edible, some of which did not, but all of which were varying shades of brown or the occasional cream color.
Behind the counter, Leon's eyes met with a pair of dark brown, and though the girl smiled at him, he did not return the expression. She was pretty and blonde, both shorter and younger than himself, by a few inches and a few years, the cotton cloth of the outfit they made her wear fit tightly across her large chest. She was just like all of the other girls working in the store, and Leon wondered for a moment if maybe that wasn't just a little bit eerie. But he knew the thought was probably caused by the fact that, while he didn't mind blondes, he much preferred red heads or brunettes. He much preferred long, black silk hair...
"Welcome to Teuscher Chocolates of Switzerland [1]," the girl said, smiling at each of the young men in turn. "How may I help you?" She gave off the feeling of an automated bank teller, or a trained animal, as if not only her words and actions were prerecorded, but perhaps her thoughts as well.
Leon looked down at the glass case between them for a moment, some of what he guessed were their more expensive products laid out like prized jewels. As he placed his hands on top of the glass, he found that the case was refrigerated. He met the girl's eyes again.
"I need something good," he said bluntly. Leon had no idea what that might be. He didn't like chocolate, as it contained no meat or anything similar. It wasn't filling, usually smelled funny, and if you left it lying around, like say in the backseat of your car, it would melt and make a holy mess. A lot of trouble for nothing, the way he saw it. But this stuff seemed to make D happy, and while he knew high prices were not necessarily an assurance of quality, it was definitely a place to start.
The girl stared at him for a few moments, most likely searching through her mental phrasebook for an appropriate reply, and Leon had the strong urge to whack the side of her head, like he did all the damnable machines at the precinct that would never work right. Finally, with an increase in the magnitude of her smile by at least 40%, the girl replied, "Why not try our house specialty champagne truffle? They are filled with a mixture of dark chocolate and French champagne cremes." As she finished her spiel, the girl turned mechanically, acquiring something, and then back around to face him, laying a large basket full of unwrapped chocolate pieces down on the counter. "Sure to delight even the most discriminating taste buds," she added, the expression of pure, unadulterated *nothing* on her face almost causing Leon to take a step back.
Eyeing the chocolates (anything was better than looking at the girl), the detective could see nothing unusual about them. They seemed pretty standard, like something he could get at any department store. Still, 'champagne' sounded pretty good. That was supposed to be romantic or something. "How do you sell these?" he asked, picking up a piece and inspecting it more closely. "By the gallon or what?"
The question seemed to click something in the girl's head, and the reply rattled out of her mouth like coins from a slot machine. "Purchases can be made of a quarter pound, half pound, or pound."
Recalling how the Count was extremely capable when it came to devouring any sugar-based products, Leon thought he should go for the largest size. "All right, I'll take a pound, I guess." He placed the chocolate he'd been looking over back in the girl's basket, and as he removed his wallet from a back pocket, he asked with a slight sigh, "How much?"
Again, the reply was automatic. "Sixty-five dollars."
Leon stopped his movement, the wallet half open in his hands. Surely he hadn't heard her right. "What?" he demanded, annoyed that he'd have to hear her voice discharge from her body again. It was starting to give him a headache.
A hand reached around Leon and a set of clean-looking bills, folded once, dropped onto the counter. Four twenties. "Wrap it quickly and keep the change," Chang said in a bored voice.
Staring at the money for a bare second, Leon turned, not amused. "If I'd known you liked this stuff," he began, eyes beginning to take on an electric quality, "I'd have offered to buy you a box. I hope," he ground out, unable to keep his teeth from clenching in his mouth, "that that was for your own... purchase."
"It's a gift for the pet shop keeper, right? You can pay me back in the car. Can we go now?" Chang said as the girl, who had snapped up the cash with far more alertness that Leon would have imagined, placed the boxed sweets on the counter. Chang left them for Leon to retrieve and headed for the door.
Grabbing up the box of chocolates, Leon pushed past Chang and through the door, an angry outrage building in his chest. Who did this guy think he was? Obviously, he was more like his uncle than Leon could have known.
Not even stopping to check and see if he was going to get hit by a car or not, Leon stormed across the street, back to where he'd parked. He heard the honking of a horn in the background, didn't care if it was aimed at him or not, and tore open his car door. Leon was able to pull out of his rage for long enough not to damage the chocolates as he placed them on the back seat, but went right back into it as he ripped open his wallet. Throwing a few bills of his own, certainly not neatly folded, across the car's roof, he waited for Chin's nephew to pick them up. What he really wanted to do was drive off and leave the ass, but he resisted the urge. Barely.
A light breeze blew the pieces of cash across the roof. Chang's hand reached up and snagged them easily, almost too easily, it was a bit like slight of hand. He palmed the bills and entered the car, stuffing them into the seat behind him but not obviously. Looking out the window again, he said in the same bored tone, "If I weren't in such a hurry, I'd suggest you pull over at the nearest park or gym. I could use the work out."
Leon knew he was being baited. He never stopped to care, in normal circumstances, but something was telling him: not this time. That he should ignore the rage consuming him, not to let himself be blinded by it. He could push it down, he'd done it before (once or twice), and he could beat the shit out of the guy some other time. The opportunity was sure to come up again.
Leon did not respond for a long moment, stabbing the key into the ignition of the car and starting it with a cruel twist of his wrist. He pounded his foot against the gas pedal, peeling away from the curb, and securely stuffed a smile onto his face. "Why didn't you say so?" he said, in response to the 'in such a hurry' comment, and he floored the engine, sending the car speeding down the roadway for all it was worth. People could say it wasn't in the greatest condition, which Leon knew it wasn't, but the engine... it was still in its prime. He could get it well over a hundred if he tried, and until they got further into the city, where the streets would be a little more clogged, he could see no reason not to.
Chang showed no outward reaction to the death-defying auto-moves, aside from a near invisible tightening of his lips in amusement. He continued to stare out the window blandly. "The host speeds the guest's errand... I suppose I expected you to understand this."
"I guess you're a busy man," Leon replied, twisting the word 'man' in his mouth until it sounded a bit chewed when he said it. "Not so busy, I hope, that you can't spare a little time for me after you're done at the pet shop. That kind nature of yours deserves a reward."
"I hope my duties will allow me to accommodate you," Chang acknowledged, the smile finally showing.
Leon smiled as well, more to himself and the road in front of him than anything else. Duties... he didn't give a crap about Chang's duties. The guy was going to get his ass kicked one way or the other, and Leon would just as soon it be on the side of the road or on the street outside of the pet shop as inside of a gym.
At the speeds Leon was able to reach, their trip to D's shop did not last long. The detective spent the entire time imagining how nice the flesh of Chang's jaw would feel, crushed by one of his fists, and he found the thought almost soothing. Maybe he could not entirely contain his rage, but he could delay it for a while.
As they pulled up in front of the pet shop, Leon killed the engine and turned in his seat a little to retrieve the chocolates from the back seat. He wasn't planning on presenting them to D in front of the little Chinese bastard Chang, but he couldn't very well leave them in the car. Grabbing his door handle, Leon said over his shoulder, "This is it," then exited the car.
Chang followed smoothly, staying just slightly behind Leon, allowing him to lead.
Entering the shop, Leon fully expected to be greeted by the Count, since the man knew they were coming. If Jill had made good on her promise, anyway. He tried to conceal the large box of candy, not making a very good job of it, and looked around the store through narrowed eyes.
Chang kept on his heels but this time he was very obviously looking around the shop with curiosity.
As Leon looked around for D, he heard the familiar voice, of course, just behind him once he'd turned a corner.
"Good afternoon, Detective, how nice to see you so... soon!" D said pleasantly. "And you bring a guest," he sounded unsurprised. "You've both arrived in time for tea, won't you come this way?"
When Leon turned, he saw that D was dressed differently than the morning, once again in one of his intricately designed cheongsams, his demeanor as perfect as the first time Leon had seen him.
Leon felt a small urge rising up inside him, the desire to put his hands on the Count, touch some small part of the other man. He'd missed him, he found, a little surprised by the realization, since it had only been a few hours.
The Count's hands were tucked into his sleeves and he seemed to keep a little distance from Leon, his eyes sparkling but the American could not tell if they held any special meaning or not. "This way, Detective," he urged patiently. "And who is your guest?"
Without much consideration for Chang's presence, Leon indicated the young man with a slight movement of his arm. "This is Su Chin's nephew, Wu Chang." Looking the youth in the eye, Leon said offhandedly, "He won't be here long."
Chang took a step forward and bowed, at first almost superficially, and then, as his eyes met the Count's, the bow dipped lower until it was close to a full abasement. He stood up slowly. "I am honored to meet you," he said clearly.
"I am Count D," D said, remedying Leon's lack of introduction. He inspected the young man with his typical keen observation. "There is a slight amount of family resemblance," he murmured. Then he held out his hand to the young man.
With a barely noticeable hesitation, Chang took his hand... and kissed it. There was something about the kiss that was almost odd. It had a touch of instinctive reverence to it.
"..Count..." he said, his voice sounding just a bit surprised.
Leon did not like the interaction going on in front of him at all. In a single, angry step, he stood between them. Before he could know what he was doing, he snatched the Count's hand out of Chang's, holding fast to D's wrist. "I thought you said you were in a hurry," he growled at the boy, something hot and bitter welling up inside of him.
D's eyes flashed, but the wrist in Leon's grip did not pull against his hold. The Count affected a slight sigh. "Evidently you have had a difficult morning," he murmured. "Come inside like a civilized person and have some tea. It will help you feel better. And what are you clutching behind your back? I hope it is not perishable or easily damaged by being held upside down..."
Leon blinked a few times, the hot feeling in his stomach settling down a bit. Suddenly, he seemed to realize he was still holding onto D, and he released the other man's hand. Then he remembered the chocolates and quickly turned, relinquishing them to a nearby table. Perishable... Leon thought of the refrigerated glass counter in the shop, and winced, hoping they had survived the rough, albeit quick, trip to the pet shop. Of course, he wasn't about to let either D or Chang see that he gave a damn.
"Nothing, just something I grabbed on the way over here. To repay you for your help on my last case." Leon spoke the words into the air, aiming them at no one in particular.
Chang had gone from an instant flash of controlled fury to surprise, and now was simply watching the interplay of the two radically unlike persons.
D's eyes fastened on the box, his hands folding together as if he wanted to grab it and was restraining himself in front of the "guest". "As always, you are too kind, Detective," he said, simple, uncomplicated, almost superficially formal words, but his voice purred, easing along Leon's nerves like a warm caress intended for him alone. Looking up into Leon's face, his odd colored eyes very bright, the Count held his hands out, silently asking for the treat almost like a patient child.
There was little Leon could do against a look like that, and he retrieved the box of chocolates from the tabletop, depositing it heavily into D's waiting arms. Meeting the Count's gaze again, he temporarily forgot the boy's presence, and he let his eyes roam over the other man's features, almost as if reminding himself how beautiful D was. Then he turned a bit away and said quietly, "They're supposed to make you happy... um, 'delight', the girl at the store said." The room was making him uncomfortable, and he wanted to get rid of the boy as soon as possible.
D held the box against his chest as if it contained several pounds of raw diamonds. His eyes stayed on Leon's like two liquid jewels. Then he looked down and read the raised embossing on the box. His eyes widened and he looked as if he were having a small orgasm. His lips flew into a round shape and his fingers tried to stroke the box and clutch it as the same time. He looked back up at Leon. "You..." he breathed, his voice low and intimate, "...make me... happy..."
Leon was quickly losing track of everything in the room other than the Count. He knew his face was probably flushed; his skin felt extremely warm. The boy's presence became even more of an annoyance to him, and he almost found himself stepping forward to pull D against his chest, slip his arms around that slim waist and kiss that enticingly dark mouth. But he stayed rooted to the floor beneath him, trying to keep the desire out of his voice as he spoke. "You're a valuable... asset... to my... investigations. I... we all... appreciate your hard work."
D's eyes crinkled at the corners. He smiled blindingly at Leon and then turned to place the box on the table where the tea tray was already sitting, with three cups on it.
Chang watched this exchange, his eyes bugging out slightly before he was forced to look away by sheer propriety.
Leaning over the box, D lifted the cover and his hand dipped in to capture one of the truffles. His nostrils dilated, and he lifted the sweet to his mouth, consuming it in a way that made everyone in viewing distance feel like they were watching something x-rated.
After a slight recovery, D managed to stir himself enough to pour tea into three cups and wave the two men to a seat as he took his own, looking unnervingly post-coital.
Leon sat on the sofa, his look shifting between a great distaste at having to sit next to Chang, and wide-eyed, entranced wonder at D's performance over the box of chocolates. The Count's reactions to any suitable treat Leon brought him were always *well* worth the expenditure of funds. True, cakes and pies and the like were useful tools of bribery, but in reality, he'd have given his last dollar to see D's looks of rapture.
Shifting his body, a bit of a discomfort in his pants, Leon silently willed Chang to leave quickly. He didn't care how it happened, spontaneous combustion would work. He just wanted to be alone with D.
"Please tell me what brings you to see me," D said, his voice still a tad breathless as he pulled himself back together - none too hurriedly. "And... what is your real name?"
Chang blinked, having been concentrating a bit hard on his tea in the wake of the suddenly hormonal atmosphere in the room. His eyes flew to D. "How did you...?" He shook his head, a slightly awed expression trying to form on a face that was unused to it. "It's true, 'Wu' is a name of convenience. I am Chang Fei Hong. I was called Wu since childhood because I am the fifth son of a fifth son."
The Count inclined his head graciously. "Su Chin was the second son - your father his younger brother. I am afraid your family has not had good fortune in the last few generations..."
Chang's attention was riveted to D. "No, that is true," he said, his tone as if he were simply confirming what he now believed D already knew. "My father died as a young man. My uncle was the last of his generation alive and my four older brothers are also with our ancestors."
"You shoulder the burden of responsibility for your clan, then," D nodded.
"Essentially," Chang answered, seeming less and less surprised. He looked at D quite simply as one regards an oracle than possesses the answers to all questions if one can ask them correctly. "The culmination of this misfortune is hanging over us at this moment. The future of an entire province is already beginning to whither. The beautiful City of Hong Kong will waste into a desert if I do not accomplish what I was sent here to do."
D answered this statement with silence. It was a dispassionate silence that Leon had heard before, on other occasions when human lives or fates had been hanging on the balance of a single silken thread, and he could not remember ever seeing the Count reach out a slender hand to save a single one.
Leon's ears had perked up twice during the conversation between the two Chinese. First, when "Wu" had given his real name. Second, when the boy mentioned what he was sent here to accomplish. Leon had been trying to figure that out since their introduction. He did not intrude upon the dialogue between the two. Instead, he concentrated on recording everything he heard into his mind, anchoring any piece of information he deemed relevant.
The silence stretched out, and Chang appeared to realize the meaning of it and even lose some of his natural self confidence in the face of it. Taking a deep breath, he seemed to discipline himself and placed his tea cup back on the tray. Leaning forward, he said, "There was a package sent here by my uncle. I have come to understand it was part of some scheme he had. I have not understood the full insanity of his actions until... now. Though I knew they were great. He sent a creature here to... harm... you? If that is the case I can only accept the burden of the debt he has added to my family. But his actions have set a disaster into motion. The animal he sent to... harm you... is a very rare creature. The last of his race in the province that includes Hong Kong. If it... he... is not returned to make his home there, the fortune of the land will fall to ruin. It is urgent beyond my poor ability to describe to find this creature and bring him back to his land and home."
D settled back into his chair, his slender fingers steepling. His eyes as he watched Chang had returned to the semblance of rare jewels - inhuman and unreachable.
He let the boy sit in another silence for long moments. Then he said, "It is possible... that I have this rare creature in my keeping." The words were chosen deliberately and well, for the impact they had on the Chinese boy was profound.
Sitting up even straighter - his posture was already correct in the extreme - Chang watched D carefully.
"However, as I am sure Detective Orcot told you, I have had a difficult few days. I am afraid I am feeling a bit fatigued at the moment. If you return tomorrow, it is possible I may be able to tell you something relevant to your difficulty," D finished smoothly, rising in an implicit dismissal. He turned to Leon and his eyes seemed to warm instantly. "I hope you won't forget your promise to return this evening," he said in a purring tone. "I am having a special dinner prepared for... us. You won't be late?"
Leon stared at the Count for a moment, then stood up, still feeling the urge to get the other man alone. "No, I won't," he said plainly, then added, "Might even be early."
He was rewarded with a look that seemed to be tailored for him alone, intimate and warm. "I will be waiting," D promised, another reward held out for future possession.
Chang had risen and was standing by the door, attempting not to look at the two of them, the discomfort of being in the room almost as great as Leon's of having him there.
D's words found a place in Leon's mind and stayed there, even as he left the shop for the bright sidewalk outside. Leon was feeling remarkably frustrated, he realized. About everything. Not only over the fact that he could not currently throw D against a wall and elicit even more beautiful sounds from the man than the chocolate had done. Not only over the fact that he was still having to play chauffeur to Chang. Not only over the fact that he had less than - he glanced down at his watch to confirm - less than twenty-four hours to find a home for Chris. It just felt like everything. Everything was under pressure, waiting to explode.
The Chinese man seemed almost equally distracted, glancing at Leon with a look of recalculation and a little confusion. The look lingered on the blond American as if he were trying to figure something out.
Noticing the boy's look, Leon paused on his path to the car. Like nearly everything Chang had done since they'd met, it annoyed him. "What?" he asked, his tone already indicating that he knew it was probably something he wouldn't like.
Chang shook his head. "I'm trying to figure out what there is to you that explains..." he shrugged, unwilling to get more specific.
Explains... it took Leon a few moments to get an idea of what the boy was talking about. The remark was incredibly easy to ignore, to let slide. But, while he'd had a voice to listen to earlier, a voice that had told him to wait, now he had no such voice. "Let's see if you can figure this out," he said, turning rapidly to face Chang as he pulled his fisted hand backward. Leon held it there for only a moment, as if letting steam build behind it, then let it fly, connecting solidly with the youth's jaw. It felt extremely good.
TBC
[1] Note from Cass: "This is a real chocolate shop located in California. I did up the price of the chocolates. I think they were originally, according to the website, around 45 - 50 bucks a pound, and Leon (or rather Chang) pays $65."