Part 19
Duo stared out into the early morning sun, noting with no small amount of amazement the transformation of the desert after the rain. It was alive with greenery and flowers, a beautiful thing to behold.
Duo stared at the lock pick in his hand, then threw it away.
"If ever there was an idiot..." Duo muttered. He looked back Heero's sleeping form and picked up a hank of his dirty and tangled hair. "Yuck. How could Heero say this was beautiful?" he asked himself.
He was free. It was as simple as limping out of that cave and not looking back. But he couldn't leave. He was as bound to Heero just as securely as when the handcuffs were in place.
The focus of his gaze returned to the desert. He sighed and shifted slightly. A pair of arms wrapped around him and he blinked with surprise.
"How did you get free?" Heero asked, tone carefully neutral. Duo leaned back into his embrace.
"Lock picks," Duo said tiredly. "I keep them in my hair." He felt Heero's breath on his neck.
"But you're still here..." Heero pointed out. Duo sighed. Heero gathered Duo's hair and braided it with no small amount of reverence. Duo frowned in annoyance.
"I can't leave you. Not now... not ever. Damnit, this is all your fault," Duo complained. Heero turned Duo around and kissed him soundly.
"So, what do we do now?" Heero asked, after a moment of silence. Duo held up a hand, with three fingers pointing up.
"We go back to town," Duo ticked off one finger. "We tell them what happened." Duo ticked off another finger. "And we find the nearest bed and screw like cats in heat." This last was said with a seductive smile. Heero growled, wrapping his arms tightly around Duo and kissing him hungrily.
"We need to go..." Duo said regretfully, pulling away from Heero slightly. Duo sighed and held out his wrist. Heero carefully put on the handcuffs, running a finger along the shiny metal surface.
"Hmmm..." Heero said. Duo looked at him curiously.
"What is it?" Duo asked. Heero smiled at Duo.
"You know... we could use these... for something else." Duo's eyes widened. Heero wrapped his arm around Duo carefully and nodded to the great outdoors. "Let's go."
Duo, a tad stunned, nodded. Heero chuckled and they walked out of the cave, marvelling at the coolness of the air.
"What did those people do?" Heero asked. Duo didn't need to ask who.
"Dekim stole a collection of glass statues from a family. Dermail claimed a necklace owned by a widower that had been his wife's and Tsuberov kidnapped that girl because he wanted to marry her and she wanted nothing to do with him."
Heero nodded.
"When all of this is over, I'll have to visit the people who live on the outside of town. I never went before... because I thought they helped the bandits," Heero said.
"Often those people are just as frightened of bandits as anyone else, but they are so isolated they have to stick together. And many of them don't think the people in town would do anything for them, so they turn a blind eye towards banditry," Duo replied.
"We have to do something about that, from both ends. People have nursed their hatred for far too long. We need to bring the people outside the town and the people inside the town together." Duo nodded and thought.
He loved people like Treize and Une, who worked hard, raised beautiful children and only wanted to live their lives in peace and harmony. They didn't deserve to be cheated out of their hard earned money, no one did.
And yet... he had thought that the people in town were all indifferent, but obviously Heero wasn't like that. And maybe the rest of the town isn't so bad either. It was something he needed to think about. But if he could bring the townies and the people on the outskirts then....
Duo looked at Heero suddenly, eyes wide. Heero nodded. Duo smiled ruefully.
"Yes," Duo said. Heero nodded, gripping Duo's hand in his. Duo's smile curved into something more soft and gentle, giving Heero a quick kiss as they walked the few hundred metres to Sanq.
Heero looked around the quiet town, noting that it was fairly empty.
"So, this is Sanq..." Duo said, eyes taking in everything. "It's a nice place."
"It is. The tavern is over there, the post office, the sheriff's office and over there is the-"
"They're back!" shouted a high pitched voice. Heero and Duo spun to look as a pink clad missile headed towards them. Duo's eyes narrowed as the girl ran smack into Heero, making him wince.
"Oh Sheriff Yuy, I was so worried! Oh, you're hurt! How horrible!" she chattered on as Heero tried to pry her off.
"I'm fine Relena," Heero said, still attempting to remove her from his person. He saw the look on Duo's face and knew that it did not bode well.
"Oh, and this is the nasty, smelly, horrible bandit!" Relena said, turning to Duo. Duo smiled charmingly at her, displaying his teeth.
"If a townie by any other name could smell as bad, Miss," Duo said through gritted teeth. Relena's eyes flashed in anger.
"Not as bad as you'll smell, gallows bait, when my fiancé Heero and I watch you die," she hissed, low and venomous.
Duo's temper came to a boil and he reached out to hit Relena, she affected a look of innocent horror.
"He's attacking me!" Relena said, reaching out to punch Duo in the leg he was favouring. His blood thundered in his ears as he went down.
TBC...