Title: The Hidden Self

Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing universe or any of the Gundam Wing characters. I'm doing this for fun.

Pairing: Main 1x5 but watch out for Duo :)

Warnings: Yaoi, Romance, humor, AU

Rating: PG (for this chapter)

Archive: For now, just here as a trial run. Once the edges are ironed out, I'll post this on the rest of the archives.

Betaed : by Stray ( lj user="grey_hunter")

Summary: Wufei is swept off his feet by a series of events beyond his control. Odd people, even odder situations and it is the day before his wedding … to Meiran.

Request: Crystal asked me to write a 1x5 simialr to Sex Pistols. This is what I got

Part 1

Wufei was feeling distinctively twitchy as he sat in the shade and found it hard to concentrate on the book he was reading. Not that Family Law of the Long Family was exactly the sort of book he wanted to read but it seemed he had no choice in the matter if he wanted to escape his fate.

There was someone watching him -- had been watching in for the past half hour but had not made a move to reveal himself -- or herself. Wufei did not know what to think about it. Only Hunters crouched, waiting for prey, but Wufei did not consider himself prey since he was a Hunter himself. Unless, there was something in Wufei's vicinity to draw the attention of the Hunter who was waiting for Wufei to move before pouncing on his or her intended target. Wufei lifted his head and looked around, sniffed the air and let his ears move but the wind was blowing in the wrong direction and all he could smell was the smoke from the fire a few miles away. He was about to go back to his reading when there was the sound of breaking twigs above him and Wufei looked up with a scowl.

"Duo," he called. "Is that you?"

There was the sound of a small scuffle and something fell off the top branch to land on Wufei's back neatly. "Yes, yes, yes, yes," the thing chattered happily. "Nuts, nuts, nuts."

Wufei had a feeling he knew exactly what the other Hunter had been staring at; even though Duo didn't look like a very satisfying meal, he looked like an extremely interesting one. Not now, with one cheek full of nuts, sounding like a small rodent that had gotten its head stuck in a drain pipe, but overall Wufei knew there was more to the long tailed menace than it met the eye. It was proof enough that he had not eaten the annoying creature in the first place.

Not that he actively ate the catch …straight off … they were civilized after all and food was meant to be cooked and eaten. But that did not mean he wanted to be caught socializing with food – though a small part of him realized that maybe Sally would be pleased with it. Still, he had his pride and he did not want to be seen with something he would normally eat, frisking up and down his back.

"Whoever you are, you'd better come out now," Wufei said aloud in the direction of the observer, instinctively assuming the dominant position . Anyway, Wufei thought he could handle any threat coming his way. He was not as large as his father, but he was a damn good fighter and everyone knew it. He had won all his fights and he could take down other cats twice his size.

The bush rustled, a lot closer than he had anticipated, and the foliage parted smoothly to reveal the intruder. The interloper stepped into the clearing and Wufei had to force himself not to get up and take a step back. But his fur stood on end and his hands, which were mostly human since he needed opposable thumbs to turn the pages of his book, shifted back into long claws, ready to attack. Duo crouched low on his back, near the neck and Wufei could feel those sharp nails digging into his nape.

The creature that had stepped out of the bushes was large. Not as large as Treize but still large … Wufei had thought it was a wolf before he realized the build was all wrong. Too large, there was no way around that word, and there were stripes and it was the wrong color. Too brown and orangish and the whiskers were all over the place. Even its fur was ruffled as if it -- he, as Wufei could see clearly, had been rolling in a thorny patch, nothing like Wufei's sleek black fur.

The newcomer stepped forward boldly, right into Wufei's personal space, and his nostrils flared. Wufei tensed, hind legs spread, ready to leap at the throat of the intruder. Being smaller has its advantages, too. It did not matter how large they were, not many animals survived having their throats ripped out.

"Is that a squirrel on your back?" the new comer asked in a deep voice and Wufei lost his concentration, startled. It was the last question he expected to be asked by someone as … imposing as this. Not that Wufei was impressed or anything … he just saw the potential in the newcomer to overwhelm others with his presence. That was all… He was sure that any animal coming across this large wolf-cat hybrid would be intimated ….

"Wings, wings, wings…." Duo chattered as he took a flying leap off Wufei's back onto the head of the other cat. "Wings, wings, wings…"

"Your name is Wings?" Wufei asked before he could help himself.

"Heero," the other cat said amiably enough.

"Wings, wings, wings," chattered Duo running down the back of Wufei as if he was on some giant roller coaster.

"Why does he call you Wings?" Wufei asked suspiciously. Not that being called Wings suited this creature or anything. Heero looked about as solidly grounded as any other land bound animal was. Unless this Heero-cat ran so fast it looked like he was flying. Wufei knew of a few ancestors in his family who had a bit of Cheetah in them who could run fast as well -- even he was faster than Meiran who was came from a pure bloodline. Still, being called Wings…

In answer, Heero flicked up a paw and Duo went flying off the back and smacked on to the ground. Before Wufei could react, a large paw clamped down on the brown, long tailed creature and pinned it to the ground.

"Duo," Wufei cried out involuntarily and took a step forward, snarling with his canines showing. By now his friend would be crushed beneath the weight of the paw. Wufei knew from experience how fragile the bones of a squirrel were -- how the ribcage shifted under his palm as if it were made of slender twigs that broke under pressure. By now those ribs would have shattered, driving shards of bones into those small lungs, and Duo would start to cough up blood and …

"Tickles, tickles, tickles," Duo chattered as he twisted under the paw. "Tickles, tickles, tickles."

Wufei looked closely at his friend and realized, though there was a huge paw on top of him, it was there for no other purpose than to immobilize him. Otherwise Duo seemed to be fine though a little squashed.

"You'd better let him go," Wufei growled anyway. It helped to let others know who was boss.

"Why?" Heero asked as he lifted Duo up by the scruff of his neck with a paw that had shifted to a partial hand carefully and brought him closer to his eyes for inspection. Duo glared at the cat as he hung in mid air in an undignified position with his hind legs splayed, leaving his soft belly unprotected. "If you were going to eat it, you'd have done so already."

"He's not food," Wufei snarled, taking a step closer. He was close enough to snatch Duo away from Heero but he was scared that he might hurt his friend in the process.

"He's not mate," said Heero as he wrinkled his nose and brought in Duo for a sniff. "Doesn't smell like mate and he's male."

Wufei scowled.

"And he's too small," Heero observed.

"Hey, who are you calling small buddy," Duo snarled. "Let me go or I'll pee in your eye."

"He means that," Wufei warned as Heero looked surprised that the animal he had been toying with apparently turned out to be a Changeling like them and intelligent enough to speak in sentences.

Heero gently placed Duo on the ground and the squirrel shook himself a couple of times before turning to look at Heero who was towering over him. "Watch the fur, mate."

"Is that why you're called Duo?" Heero asked looked more amused than angry. "Because you have two tails."

"Not a tail," Duo said huffily. "It's my hair."

"Hair!" Heero raised an eye brow.

"He's growing the fur on his back and braiding it into a second tail," Wufei said a little wryly, relaxing a little. By now, if the new cat has not tried to kill them, it was unlikely he was going to anytime soon.

Hn," said Heero with the air of someone taking in something of great importance.

"What do you want?" Wufei asked then frowned suspiciously. "Unless we are in your territory and you want to mark a claim." He had not been to his usual spot in some a while -- there had been little time with the arrangements of his upcoming wedding and all. In the end he had just run out of the house, feeling overwhelmed by all the details.

"Not my territory," Heero said with a shrug, sitting down on his haunches. Then he looked at Duo who had deemed it safer to run up Wufei's neck again than stay close to Heero. "Is it yours or your squirrel's?"

"Not my territory," Wufei said. Squirrels did not own property, at least not as far as he knew. Duo was trying to get his attention, hopping up and down insistently and pulling at his ear, which was so undignified. If someone had done that to his father that person would be dead. For someone to that to his grandfather, his grandfather would have to be dead.

"The squirrel is humping your back," Heero pointed out mildly.

"It's not," Wufei replied trying to remain dignified. "It's just jumping up and down."

"It's perfectly respectable to mate with a squirrel," Heero continued in a conciliatory tone. "I have a second cousin who's trying to courting a Deer."

"Must be bloody," Wufei blurted out before he could help it.

"Not really," Heero shrugged. "Quatre's one of those Deers without antlers so getting head butted hasn't done anything to Trowa apart from giving him a nosebleed."

"Oh," said Wufei floundering under the new information. "Duo is not my mate."

"But you are going to break your engagement," Heero stated matter-a-factly.

Startled, Wufei sat back on his hunches and looked around, spotted the book he was reading and then scowled. "What's it to you?"

"He's Relena's bodyguard," Duo shouted into Wufei's ear having given up his attempt at being discreet – or what passed for discreet for Duo, anyway. "Heero Yuy."

That got Wufei's attention and he snapped his chin up defensively. "Relena Peacecarft," he said. "The Peacecrafts are already here?"

"The wedding is tomorrow," Duo pointed out reasonably. "Guests customarily arrive a day early."

"Shut up," Wufei growled in frustration. He had all but forgotten that the guests would be flooding in by now, eager to see the new addition to the Long family.

"You aren't exactly glowing with happiness at the prospect of getting married," Heero observed sarcastically. At least Wufei assumed it was sarcasm, though it could have been a mere observation on the other cat's part.

"He's trying to break the engagement," Duo replied from top of Wufei's head.

"Ah," said Heero. "Because you want to mate with the squirrel."

Wufei scowled and did not bother answering since while he did not really want to mate with Duo, given the choice between Meiran and Duo, he would choose Duo hands or paws down.

"She suspected as much," Heero said.

"Who?" Wufei asked. "Meiran?"

"And your mother," Heero said. "I'm here on your intended's behalf to take you home so you can get ready for the wedding."

"My mother thought I was behaving like a tomcat in heat," Wufei exclaimed. "She should know I would never do such a thing. And she sends a Peacecraft bodyguard to bring me back…"

"The Peacecraft bodyguard," Duo corrected him and a part of Wufei wondered how the airhead on the top of his head knew so much about state politics.

"…what did you expect to find," Wufei continued. "Me carousing with a stray Kangaroo?"

"Actually, you naked, frolicking under a waterfall," Heero deadpanned. "Isn't that the usual place for finding fairytale creatures?"

Wufei flushed as soon as his brain was capable of processing what was being said then scowled to cover it up though he was sure the black fur did a magnificent job hiding the excess blood rushing to his face. "Flattery will get you nowhere," he said a little too late for a proper comeback but still, it was better than nothing.

Heero shrugged and then stood on all four paws carefully, tail swishing once. "Back to business, you must come with me, Long Wufei."

"Chang Wufei," Wufei said automatically then added slightly bitterly. "Soon to be Long Wufei but at least not for another day."

"Stupid cat customs," Duo declared and though Wufei personally agreed that a clan did not need to be matrilineal, he had to protest for the sake of protesting.

"We're civilized," Wufei said, sounding a little chocked, as Heero got up and started moving around him, sniffing him gently. Wufei could see the way the other cat's whiskers twitched as he took in Wufei's scent. Since names had been exchanged it was only polite that they scent-identified each other as well. Wufei held himself in place as Heero stared out by sniffing him under the chin, behind the ear, neck, and then slowly towards his back, the way a proper, old fashioned greeting should be carried out.

Wufei stiffened, his hackles rising, not sure if he should react or let the other male smell him. Letting another male smell him this way was slightly disturbing, as if he was acknowledging that the bigger one was the alpha. In reply, Heero twisted around, faced Wufei and ran a wet tongue over Wufei's nose. Startled, Wufei leaned backwards but did not protest.

"You like it," Duo quipped, chattering directly into Wufei's ear, who could not honestly rebuff the claim.

"Shut up, Duo," he said a little weakly. "It's something we big cats do as a form of greeting."

"Must've missed that one in the Book of Long Family what-nots," Duo said, making Wufei wonder how on earth his friend came to be so observant.

Heero was directly behind him now and Wufei tensed as the larger male disappeared from view. He did not want to turn his head and appear scared but he did feel uneasy about it.

"You also sniff butts," Duo reminded him unnecessarily.

Wufei tensed.

Heero pounced on top of him so suddenly that Duo went flying over his head and landed on the ground in an undignified heap, with his paws splayed. A firm jaw clamped down on the back of Wufei's neck and a steady weight settled on his back, pushing him to the ground and pinning him there. Wufei's left cheek smacked into the ground, hard. He could feel the hot breath on the back of his neck as Heero climbed on top of his prone form and ground his …uh… nether regions firmly into Wufei's back.

Oh!

Oh, by the Ceiling Cat!!!

He was being molested by a cross-bred male cat!

Wufei could feel the way the jaws held his head immobile, firm but gentle and the way Heero's …uh… thing was rubbing against him. Involuntarily, his tail twisted out of the way and his rear legs pushed up so…Oh, he could not condone such actions, even if his body said yes. However, there was nothing he could do nothing, as Heero's superior weight pushed Wufei down, though he saw a small opening. Wufei shifted to human, slithered away from those great paws and turned around, ready to fight…

…just in time to see as a huge chestnut the size of a small fist hit Heero squarely on his forehead. "Pervert, pervert, pervert," Duo repeated as he thumped his blacklegs insistently on the ground. "Pervert."

There was a sudden silence and then Heero shifted to human as well. Wufei blinked … in his human form, Heero was as much a cross-bred as he was in his animal form. His face had an oriental tilt to it but he also had enough European blood in him to turn his eyes a startling blue and his messy hair brown, instead of black. His body was marred with scars and much to Wufei's horror, semi-erect. And Heero made no move to cover himself up, which was so barbaric.

"What exactly are you doing?" Wufei shouted angrily.

"Mating with you," Heero said as if it was the most ordinary thing in the world.

Wufei tugged the book on Long Family Laws and dropped it onto his lap to hide his -- uh--- thing and scowled. He had not expected any company for awhile so had shifted after he had not brought any clothes with him. After all, even the Longs did not expect Changlings to be dressed for all ocasions. "You are out of your mind if you think…"

"You are perfectly compatible with me," Heero said. "Your hips are too narrow but you might even be able to bear litter under the right circumstances."

"I'm betrothed," Wufei said, grasping at straws. This was not happening to him.

"You were searching for a way to break it, and it didn't seem as if you found one on your own," Heero stated calmly.

"It's not something done so lightly," Wufei protested.

"But…" Duo said shifting as well into his human form; violet eyes and long chestnut hair in a braid. Though Duo was a little shorter than Heero, he was not a small as his animal form suggested and Duo's braid, Wufei noted with amusement, was arranged strategically to cover his vulnerable parts. Wufei noted that his friend also had a pouch full of nuts tied to his waist.. "…it can be done, right, Wufei and this is your chance."

"Stay out of this," Wufei snapped.

"Tell me about it," Heero growled at Duo, ignoring Wufei.

"You have to challenge his future mate for the right to mate with him," Duo said.

"That's not…it applies only to females…" Wufei said weakly.

"There's no rule stating that," Duo pointed out, sounding more intelligent than his form would suggest. "It's only been applied to females so far."

"Let's go," Heero said decisively. "I'll challenge Long Meiran for the right to mate with you."

"I…you can't," Wufei protested. "Meiran is just a female. I'll fight you instead…"

"For the right to stay engaged or to break it?" Duo asked in a sotto-voice.

"You're not helping," Wufei snapped.

"You wanted a way out of your parents' plans for your future," Duo said reasonably. "I've just seen a way. Consider it that you were just handed a way on a silver platter."

"But not by being mated to him," Wufei hissed back.

"But why not?" Duo said cheekily. "You weren't protesting much while he was humping you."

Ps. I'm moving ot Singapore in January – NUS. Anyone willing to rent me a place to stay