A/N: So this is a bit of an experimental fic for me, both with the pairing and with the particularly 'little' challenge presented. I'll tell you now that Wufei's participation in the coupling will be slow in coming, because I can never picture him just falling into their arms all uke-like. Otherwise, I hope you enjoy the fic, and I'll do my best to keep updating, likely on a weekly basis. Have fun.

Dragon in my Hand
Chapter One
Silk on a Glove

The battle wasn't going the way anyone had expected, and Wufei's knuckles were white as his hands clutched Nataku's controls desperately. Why, why did Tallgeese need to join the group of Leos that Wufei'd already reduced by half. The white suit's appearance distracted Wufei long enough for a single suit he'd never seen before to emerge from the woods surrounded base. The weapon it held was equally as foreign to him, but he grew wary when he saw how much distance the other soldiers gave this new one, Tallgeese following their lead after a reluctant minute.

Wufei growled in frustration as a beeping from his Gundam's scanners told him that its attempts to breach the machine had failed completely. He would have gotten more information scanning a rock than he did from this mobile suit. He had no better luck with the weapon it held in its hands, the weapon that was already being aimed at Nataku. Aimed and charging.

By the time his reflexes were able to begin evasive maneuvers, it was already too late and the weapon's beam hit his Gundam barely a moment later, once and then twice. The first time only impacted the shoulder as he changed direction, but the force of it turned Nataku so that the second beam hit the cockpit hatch directly.

The green and red mobile sit spun wildly out of control as it lost altitude, plummeting to the ground with an impact that could be felt all the way to the base. For the OZ pilots, it would have been a cause for celebration if the weapon hadn't immediately begun to overload, huge arcs of sparks shooting off of it and the port where it attached to the mobile suit it belonged to.

Inside the Tallgeese, Zechs had to shield his eyes from the blinding explosion displayed on his viewing screens, the scream from the pilot cut short. He sat silently for a moment in respect for the fallen soldier before leaning forward at the chime of the comm to switch on the video feed. "Treize. Did you see-"

"I did, my old friend," Treize said, lips pursed in the viewing screen. He rested his chin on one gloved fist. "I didn't approve that thing's construction."

"I'll have it investigated," the blonde assured him. He knew the other man well enough not to need to ask. Though there was one other issue that he was never sure on. "And what of 05?"

Treize thought for a moment, his eyes going distant. If the fiery pilot was alive, and he hoped he was, they would need to retrieve him for questioning. And as much as he trusted Lady Une, the aristocrat knew how eager his colonel could get when interrogating prisoners. But if she knew that he had seen them before interrogation, she would be hesitant to cause as much damage. And if Chang had died in the crash... A warrior of his caliber deserved proper burial. "Mark off the area and order guards posted. I would prefer to search the woods myself." He held up a hand when it looked like Zechs was going to protest. "If you fear for my safety, you're welcome to join me, but no one else."

"Your fascination with that boy will get you killed one day," Zechs said as he shook his head. He would have argued if he thought that it would result in anything more than Treize heading into the woods on his own. If they were any other people, the three of them, he might have gotten jealous from the amount of time he knew his boyhood friend and behind closed doors lover spent thinking about and studying Chang. How many times had he caught him re-watching the surveillance footage from their sword fight? "I'll see you on the ground in ten minutes."

"What would I do without you, Milliardo?" the general asked, his smile as unreadable as it always was. he didn't expect an answer and cut the connection without waiting for one.

"You'd get yourself killed hunting your young dragon." It was only because he was alone that Zechs allowed a derisive snort, as he turned Tallgeese back towards the base. If they found the boy dead, he would have an officer to comfort whether he thought he needed it or not.

As promised, the two men met on ground ten minutes later, and were a mile into the woods within the hour, a bag of medical supplies slung over Zechs' shoulder and an electric navigator in Treize's hands leading them to the estimated location of the crashed Gundam.

"Have I mentioned lately jut how mad you've become over the years?" Zechs asked casually as he removed yet another stray twig from his hair. He should have demanded the few extra minutes it would have taken to bind it back. On the battlefield, no one got close enough to make it a threat, but in the woods? If it weren't as much a part of his signature as his mask, he would have been tempted to take 02's example and keep it bound in a braid at all times.

Treize, the lucky bastard, had no such problem, able to side-step the grabbiest branches without so much as looking up from the miniature screen in his hands. He barely did even to answer his lover's question. "Not since last Tuesday, I believe. Has it gotten worse?"

There was a growl behind him as yet another branch snagged a few platinum strands for its own. "Clearly, because I was in Brazil last Tuesday, and communications were down for three days because Maxwell had programmed all outgoing lines to only contact phone sex operators and charge by the minute psychics. I believe you signed off on the-"

Treize had his hand held up for silence, and Zechs understood why the moment he looked up and past the other man. The Altron lay just beyond a few trees in an impact created clearing, the cockpit hatch open and half buried in the ground. It'd clearly been open before the Gundam impacted with the earth, which didn't promise well for the safety of the pilot.

"The branches are blocking my view," he said with as frown as he stood beneath the open hatch and tried to peer in. The damage suggested by the placement of some of the branches made his blood run cold. he restricted his reaction to clenching his fists. "Milliardo, you've always been a better climber than me..."

"I'll look." Zechs made short work of the buttons holding his uniform closed, offering the garment to Treize. He slipped off his gloves his well and pocketed them before starting to climb. The blonde was just glad that it hadn't rained in the past two days, so the mossy branches weren't nearly as slippery as they could have been. He was able to climb quickly, reaching his destination within a few minutes.

The cockpit was empty at first glance, and likely at second and third had Zechs not tried to climb into it in order to see if it could be still run. He put a hand down beside the controls and felt something soft and warm brush against the edge of his hand. Expecting to see some unfortunate animal that'd been caught in the crash, Zechs turned his head to look and found his breath stolen away, blue eyes flying impossible wide behind his mask.

Treize heard his friend's sharp inhale and made another attempt at seeing up into the suit to see what had caused it. Of course, it did no more good than the first time he'd made the attempt. But it wasn't long before Zechs started to come down again, a hand held close to his chest. Before he tried to scale the last portion, he held that hand out to Treize. "Take him. I need both hands to get the rest of the way down."

Him? Treize didn't have time to voice his question before it was answered for him with the depositing of a featherlight object in his outstretched hand. As his mind registered just what he'd been handed, the general couldn't help but to stare in stunned awe. Black hair made a stark contrast against his white glove, broken free from the tight tail he'd always seen it in before. The silk clad form that it belonged to draped limply over his palm, only the motion of his chest rising and falling to tell that he was even alive. Features that he'd always found so striking and proud now looked delicate merely because of their scale. Once it was put together he knew that though his many years of study and trust in science would not tell him, he held Chang Wufei in the palm of one hand.

The sound of Zechs' feet hitting the ground broke him from his shock enough to look up, his hand curling gently around the young pilot to protect him from falling. There was no longer any question about turning him over to Une for questioning. Even at her gentlest, she would kill something so small and breakable. "Have you ever heard of anything that could do this?"

Zechs shook his head, a frown marring his face as he looked at the young man in his lover's protective grasp. It somehow seemed wrong for Chang to be so defenseless, helpless. "Never," he said softly. Who knew how far the teenager actually was from waking. "It seems right out of a science fiction novel."

"Or a fairy tale," Treize added with a small smile beginning to tug at his lips. Since no bones appeared to be broken on the tiny body, Treize carefully transferred Wufei into the inside breast pocket of his uniform. He would be safe there until they could tend to him, and Treize would know immediately if he awoke. He straightened up, slipping his rank back on before speaking. "We were unable to locate pilot 05 and it appears he was either flung from his Gundam in falling or escaped before we could arrive. Keep the barricade in place. I don't want the other pilots sneaking in as part of a salvage crew." His shoulders relaxed once more as he held out Zechs' jacket, a hand cupped gently over his hidden pocket and the warm lump there. "Will you be joining me for dinner, Milliardo? Knowing Gundam pilots, our guest may be awake by then."

"Guest? Treize, he's a Gundam pilot, not some schoolboy," Zechs said, mask hiding his look of exasperation. Sometimes, he had to wonder in insanity ran in his lover's family. It would certainly explain a number of things. "While I'm not saying that we should offer him over for interrogation, don't forget that he's a prisoner, not a house guest."

"I suspect having him as both will be a rather easy matter while he's this size, don't you think?" Now that he knew that his dragon of a pilot was safe, Treize's mood had turned decidedly lighter. And if he was to be... keeping him until WUfei returned to his usual size, then he would finally have his chance to learn just what drove a young man like Wufei to fight with such a fire burning within him. It was just a pity that they would be unable to have a rematch. Treize had a suspicion that Wufei would be unwilling to duel with pencils, and might try to murder him in his sleep if it was suggested.

The blonde man had no answer for that other than to shake his head and re-fasten his uniform jacket before taking the lead back to the base. If Treize wanted to play house with the younger pilot, so be it. In his current state, Chang was no threat to either of them, nor anyone else on the base with the possible exception of the mice.

The two men parted when they reached base, Zechs delivering the false report that the Gundam pilot had not been found, and Treize heading directly to his private quarters. It was only after he'd locked his door that he ever-so-carefully reached into his inside pocket to retrieve the treasure he had hidden there.

Wufei was still unconscious when Treize pulled him out into view, and the general frowned at the sight of a dark red stain to the white silk encasing Wufei's left shoulder. Judging by the fact that he'd not seen it earlier, he felt that moving him must have aggravated it, and he chided himself for being so careless. It was clear to him that he would need to remove Wufei's jacket, but seeing as it buttoned, he was a little stumped on just how to do it. From what little he actually knew of Chinese culture, white signified mourning, meaning that he couldn't simply cut it off. Thinking on it, Treize laid Wufei on his desk carefully before getting up and heading into his private bathroom. Where had he left them... Ah, there.

He carried the tweezers back to his desk and Wufei, switching on his lamp for better lighting as he used the tweezers to gently tug the jacket open one button at a time. Once it was open, he shifted Wufei into a half seated position to pull the coat off. Treize pushed the strap of Wufei's tank top from his shoulder to bare the source of his bleeding. From the placement... a laceration from his own safety restraints. The shirt would be in the way of properly bandaging and cleaning the would, so the next step was clearly getting it off. The task probed to be more difficultly done than said, because he was afraid of twisting any of the teenager's delicate limbs and hurting him. But soon enough the shirt was off and Treize was unable to resist running the tip of one finger over Wufei's chest, shaking his head at his own foolishness. As though he'd be able to feel anything through his gloves.

Treize cleaned the shallow wound with a Q-tip dipped in disinfectant, wincing in sympathy when the unconscious pilot flinched and tried to shift away from it automatically. Realizing that dressing the wound with his gloves still on wouldn't be at all practical (a realization that came with no small amount of joy to him because now he had an excuse), the general pulled his gloves off. He cut narrow strips of gauze and medical tape before starting to very carefully cover Wufei's shoulder with them. It wasn't the neatest job, but considering the size of his patient, he thought he'd done as well as could be expected.

Looking down at Wufei, Treize pondered for a moment before retrieving a magnifying glass from his desk and lifted up the tweezers once more. Even if he trusted his fingers to be sensitive enough to detect further injuries, he was just as likely to cause them if he felt Wufei's legs blindly. So with his hands held as steady as he could, he rolled him onto his stomach and used the tweezers to pick apart the flat knot of the pilot's belt. It was slow work to find the ends because they'd been tucked out of sight, but once the knot was untied, the strip of cloth came away easily, making Wufei's loose pants simple to slide down and off. With the younger man left in his boxers and the bracers he wore around his wrists, Treize was left to easily examine him for any uncatalogued injuries. It was to his great relief that, other than the odd colorful bruise, there weren't any.

"You young men continue to astound me with your good luck," Treize murmured softly, just lightly touching Wufei's cheek. His skin felt soft and smooth, just as he'd pictured it when he allowed himself the fancy. With a quiet sigh, Treize opened his center desk drawer and moved aside the box of pens he'd hidden there from the office clerks to make room. As he was off duty for the rest of the night, his cravat was removed and folded into a soft bed that still smelled faintly of his cologne, a glove folded and rolled into a pillow. It was only then that he carefully lowered Wufei into the drawer and draped his other glove over the shrunken man. With the bandages hidden from view, Wufei looked oddly peaceful, and Treize hated to close the drawer. But dark and quiet would be the best things for Wufei now, and Treize could promise neither on top of the desk.

And inside the drawer, he was protected from the temptation Treize had to touch him.