Yay! My first fic in almost a year! This one was a little bit of a challenge because I always want to write Hyuuga with a distinctly whorish flare. ;~; But I think I've whittled him down to mild skank. Eh, I hope you like it nonetheless.

Edit/Disclaimer: Woah.. almost forgot the disclaimer. 07-Ghost belong to Yuki Amemiya. Not me. I'm not capable of such greatness.

Warnings: Very slight yaoi. Like, it could be seen as friendly affection, and the title is the most suggestive part of this fic. Also, Konatsu has a dirty mouth.

Missing Love

Oh no.

Oh. no.

Where were they? Where were his most trusted companions? Where were the most dependable friends he had ever acquired? The friends who worked with him every day, who fearlessly charged into battle with him, who even followed him to the bathroom? These were friends who had been with him through good times and bad. These friends were almost as close to his heart as Aya-tan, because, even though it may sound shallow, these friends would occasionally sleep with him. These friends were a crucial part of his life, a crucial part of himself.

"Where the hell are my glasses?"

He expected them to be on the nightstand, where they always were when he woke up in the morning. That's the only place they could be. No matter how much love he showed them, they were still an inanimate object and were not wont to wandering away. And even if they could, they wouldn't want to, right? He had treated them lovingly and with great care, right? Care befitting Verloren himself, right? The thought that this might not be true disturbed him. What if he had wronged them in some way?

"Oh my god… I have to find them." Hyuuga said to himself as he flipped back the blankets and leaned over to run his hands over the floor to make sure that the glasses were not there, lest he step on them. Hyuuga prepared for work in this same cautious manner. He checked under the bed, maybe they had fallen there. He searched the shower and bathroom counter, maybe they had come off of his face while he prepared for bed last night. He even went so far as to investigate under the flowery welcome mat outside his apartment door, for maybe he could have somehow, in a moment of inattentiveness, switched them with his spare house key.

"Not here." Hyuuga heaved an exasperated sigh. If he took anymore time to look, he would be late for work. He may not actually do much work while he was there, that's what Konatsu was for, but if he was anything, it was punctual. He had promised his loyalty to Aya-tan and that entailed being there for him during office hours. The number one rule when it came to working for Aya-tan: Aya-tan comes first. Following this logic, Aya-tan is greater than sunglasses; therefore he had to go to work without the glasses. …Damn.

Hyuuga had expected that work would be no more different today than any other, aside from the unshakeable feeling of nakedness. But this, this was beyond ridiculous.

"State your name, sir." The office guard said, his hand on the hilt of his sword, when Hyuuga presented his ID. Hyuuga was dumbfounded and for several seconds did not answer, merely staring at the guard, who visibly tensed. Normally, Hyuuga didn't even need to stop walking when he came to the office. As long as they could see that he had an ID of some sort, the guards didn't seem to have any problem.

"What?" It was all Hyuuga could say when he finally found his voice.

"State your name, sir." The guard reiterated, moving slowly into a more defensive position, turning so his hip was facing Hyuuga instead of his stomach.

"I'm Major Hyuuga of the Black Hawks. I work for Chief of Staff Aya-t- Ayanami. Are you new here or something?" Hyuuga explained. The guard bristled.

"Major Hyuuga, if that is your name, why doesn't your appearance match the picture on the ID you were carrying?" Hyuuga could only answer with an open mouthed stare. Was this guy serious? The only thing different about his appearance today was that he wasn't wearing his glas-

"I'm not wearing my glasses today." Hyuuga said. The guard's eyes narrowed.

"A likely, and pathetic, story. State your intentions." Hyuuga sighed deeply. The guard was steadfast in his belief that he was lying.

"Honestly, I just want to go to work." Hyuuga was losing patience with the man and made to walk by him and into the office despite a lack of approval. The guard quickly drew his sword and approached Hyuuga.

"Stop intruder! You're under arrest!" he yelled, sword held out in front of him with both hands. Hyuuga did as he was told, stopping and holding his hands up by his head, but only for appearances. He had no real intention of being arrested by some stupid guard who couldn't recognize a man without his glasses.

"He's who he says he is. Put away your sword. He will come with me." Hyuuga smiled to himself. He could recognize that silky, baritone voice anywhere. Ayanami came walking past him and he followed, effortlessly falling into step beside him.

"Thanks a lot Aya-tan. I didn't want to have to knock the guy out just to get to work." Ayanami replied with a grunt and a quick glance in his direction.

"Where are your glasses?" he asked. It was more of a statement than a question. Hyuuga shrugged.

"I really don't know. I couldn't find them before I had to come to work," he said. Ayanami didn't reply, which Hyuuga knew was a sign that he was satisfied and had nothing more to contribute to the conversation. Soon, they approached the Black Hawks' office and Hyuuga was eager to be with more people who would sympathize with his dilemma.

"Eh? Ayanami, who's that new guy?" Kuroyuri asked, standing up in one of the large, cushy office chairs, his head barely clearing the tall stack of papers on his desk that blocked his view of the door. Katsuragi, the only other Black Hawk present, looked as well, his expression of confusion matching that of the pink-haired boy's. Hyuuga was dumbfounded. Was his glasses really so signature that even his co-workers failed to recognize him without them?

"Hyuuga." Ayanami stated simply. Kuroyuri shot Hyuuga a suspicious glare. He was torn about what to believe. He didn't think that the strange man was really Hyuuga, he wasn't wearing sunglasses, but he also didn't believe that Ayanami would ever lie to him. Katsuragi merely nodded to himself and returned to his book. Ayanami took a seat behind his desk and immediately set to work. Hyuuga followed suit, but soon noticed the absence of his perky blonde begleiter.

"Has anyone seen Konatsu?" Hyuuga asked when he couldn't contain his curiosity any longer.

"I asked him to run some errands for me this morning." Katsuragi answered, not looking up from his reading.

"But, he's my begleiter," He was a little surprised by his own possessiveness, but the thought of Konatsu working under anyone else bothered him, "and you're not even doing anything!" Katsuragi gave him a menacing look, telling him that he pushing his limits.

"I was busy at the time, and he was around to help. He didn't seem to mind." He explained. Hyuuga decided that arguing further would do nothing to bring his subordinate back. He huffed, reminding Katsuragi that he wasn't pleased, and tried to focus on his newest drawing of Ayanami.

Nearly half an hour after lunch, the door to the office opened and Konatsu appeared with several thick files. Hyuuga was happy to see his subordinate and waved to him as the boy came to a stop in front of his desk, unceremoniously dropping the files on it.

"Hey, Konatsu! Where have you been all morning? I missed you." Konatsu jumped back a step and stared at him with wide eyes.

"Who are you?" Hyuuga wanted to cry. His own subordinate, whom he liked to think that he had tenderly raised as if his own, didn't recognize him. He tried to communicate his hurt feelings through his eyes. Konatsu took another step back, looking mildly fearful.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" he asked. Hyuuga pouted.

"You don't recognize me? I'm Hyuuga." It was uncanny how closely Konatsu could copy Kuroyuri's suspicious glare.

"No, you're not. Do you think you're funny?" Konatsu immediately angered. The rest of the office paid him no mind. Noise was not uncommon among the Black Hawks.

"Huh?" Hyuuga was caught off guard by his subordinate's sudden fury.

"You're playing some kind of sick joke on me! My superior has gone missing, and you," now the other Black Hawks began to take notice, "you sick son of a bitch, waltzes in here like he's been around forever and tries to take his place!" He paused shortly to lean over the desk and get in his face. Hyuuga briefly noticed his reddened eyes, as if he had been crying. "You, sir, could never take Major Hyuuga's place because he was more of a man than a fucking coward like you could ever be." Konatsu had been gradually dropping his volume, finishing in hoarse whisper. With that, Konatsu pushed himself back and, before anyone had the chance to stop him, was gone. Ayanami sighed and stopped working long enough to put a hand over his eyes in exasperation.

"Hyuuga. For the love of god, go after him. I don't know where he got the idea for any of that, but I'm not dealing with it. He's not allowed back in here until you fix it." Ayanami said, never actually looking at the man he spoke to. Hyuuga glared at Katsuragi. He was going to blame the older man because Konatsu must have gotten his misinformation while he was running his errands.

Hyuuga found that Konatsu was surprisingly hard to track down, and he was vaguely proud. It seemed that the boy could disappear off the face of the earth if he really wanted to. He eventually found him in one of the empty conference rooms, sitting in a chair far from the door, his head buried in his arms. Not wanting to startle him, Hyuuga approached slowly and as quietly as he could manage.

He didn't notice that Konatsu was shaking until he was within a few feet of him. He edged closer, making sure that his clothes rustled to make sure that he made his presence known in the least traumatizing way possible. Konatsu heard almost immediately and froze. Seeing that he knew someone was there, Hyuuga gently placed a hand on his back. Konatsu jerked, then, slowly turned his head to peek from the crook of his elbow. His amber eyes narrowed.

"Why are you here?" he asked, venom in his voice. Hyuuga gave him his most innocent smile.

"I just wanted to make sure that you were okay. What makes you think that Major Hyuuga is missing?" he asked back. Konatsu buried his face again. Hm, maybe referring to himself in the third person wasn't a great idea, considering he was trying to convince the blonde that he was said person. Hyuuga knew his begleiter was going to be stubborn, so he pulled up a chair and prepared to wait it out.

Hyuuga used the waiting time to observe his begleiter, who had resumed his shaking. To be honest, he felt really bad for the kid. He had to be pretty freaked out thinking that his superior had gone missing. But he was confused as to what would make him think that in the first place. Even though he had never known his Konatsu to be the most rational person, he had a tendency to get excited and jump straight into things, this was just over the line. If he had expected anyone, besides Ayanami, to recognize him without his glasses, it would have been Konatsu. The blonde was willing to follow him to hell and back.

Hyuuga leaned forward and assumed a position similar to that of his subordinate, his head resting on his arms. From here he could hear Konatsu breathing deeply and evenly. At first Hyuuga thought the boy had fallen asleep, and almost stood to carry him back to the office where there was a couch, but stopped when he heard a hiccup. Konatsu stiffened, but several seconds later huffed loudly and sat up, his face pouting and tear stained. Hyuuga nearly smiled at his subordinate's frustration at being caught crying.

"You want to know why I think Major has gone missing? Fine, I'll tell you, but you have to go away." He said, glaring, and pointed a finger a Hyuuga, "You have to promise that I never see you again." Hyuuga couldn't help but openly pout. Even knowing that the blonde boy didn't know who he was, it still hurt to hear his Konatsu say that he never wanted to see him again.

"Fine, I promise. I'll leave and you'll never have to see me ever again. Okay?" he relented, knowing that if he didn't accept, he would never know why the blonde was so upset. Konatsu briefly held his gaze before nodding curtly and reaching under the half mantle of his coat. Hyuuga was surprised, to say the least, when his begleiter produced his glasses.

"Major Hyuuga wore these all the time. I never saw him without them. I mean, he would even wear them when we bathed. Something bad must have happened if he lost these." Konatsu took a deep, shuddering breath at the thought, and Hyuuga felt his heart breaking at the sound. He hadn't thought that such a little thing as losing his glasses would upset his begleiter so much. He wanted to take the glasses back and show Konatsu that he was fine, that it was all a misunderstanding, but he knew that, in his current emotional state, the blonde would fight tooth and nail to hold on to them.

"What if I told you those were my glasses?" Konatsu glared at him with renewed vigor and his pale skin flushed with anger. He gripped the glasses tightly and brought them protectively to his chest.

"I would call you a lying bastard. There's no way you're getting these. They're mine." He said, accenting the last word to show his seriousness. Hyuuga smirked and sat up. He felt up to the challenge.

"What do I have to do to convince you that I'm really Hyuuga?" Konatsu didn't answer, not willing to listen to who he knew was an imposter.

"Do I have to tell you about how you always scold me for not doing my work?" He asked leaning forward. Konatsu was not won over and turned away, only letting Hyuuga see his back.

"Do I have to tell you about how, when we first met, you left bruises on my neck, even though you were totally unconscious? Or how you don't have any confidence in yourself and your fighting skills because, even after doing something so unbelievable, you apologized for it?" he leaned closer, looking at his subordinate intensely, remembering how amazed he had been when it happened, and how proud he had been to call such an amazing kid his own. He could tell his blonde was affected by that, peeking back at him from over his shoulder. But ultimately, he was unconvinced.

"Or do I have to tell you about how much you cried the night after your first kill? How you came to my room with tears on your face, but still trying to look tough despite it? How you stuck to me like glue for the next week?" By now Hyuuga was close enough now to hug him from behind. He knew what he was saying hurt the blonde boy, and he hated it, but he knew this was the only way to break his defenses and make him see he was telling the truth.

"How, sometimes, you still come to me at night because one thing or another had reminded you of it?" He whispered the last part into Konatsu's ear and squeezed him reassuringly. Konatsu was still for several seconds and Hyuuga wondered whether he would have to continue, but suddenly the young blonde shook violently with sobs, curling into himself as best he could with Hyuuga holding onto him. Hyuuga maintained his grip and gently rocked his begleiter back and forth until he had calmed down enough to continue the conversation.

Konatsu eventually fought against Hyuuga's hold and was released. Wiping away tears with one arm, he held out the glasses with the other. Hyuuga accepted them more than gratefully and immediately put them over his eyes, sighing with relief. Konatsu had been gripping them tightly, so they were a little bent, but oh, it felt so good to be whole again. Konatsu had cleaned himself up somewhat and, blushing furiously, pulled on his superior's sleeve, demanding to be held. The now bespectacled man was more than willing to oblige and pulled him close to his chest.

"I've been looking for these glasses all day. Where did you find them?" Hyuuga asked, running his fingers through Konatsu's blonde hair.

"They were in the hallway in front of the conference room we used last night. Somehow they ended up in the floor and I found them when I went to pick up some papers that had been left in there for Captain Katsuragi." Konatsu explained, gripping his superior tightly around the chest. Hyuuga still didn't remember actually taking his glasses off after that late night meeting. Hell, the meeting started a ten, and knowing how those types of things like to drag themselves out, there was no telling what time it was once they had finally been released. He was dead tired at the time, so maybe he had taken them off to rub his eyes or something and hadn't noticed that he dropped them. Konatsu continued.

"I got really worried when I found them because I didn't think that there was any way that you could just lose them. I thought maybe someone had attacked you after everyone separated when the meeting ended and that you…" Konatsu stopped and took a few deep breaths to calm himself down. "I thought of a lot of different possibilities. That's why I was gone most of this morning. I'm sorry. I must have embarrassed you in front of everybody back at the office." Hyuuga sighed and continued to pet him.

"It's not a big deal. I was more worried about what the hell you were talking about. Speaking of the office, why didn't you tell anyone there what you were thinking?" He felt Konatsu shrug half-heartedly.

"I was going to. I had come back to ask if any of them would help me look for you. But then I saw you, and I was so caught up with all those possibilities going through my head that I just assumed that you were a fake and I lost it. I'm sorry." He pushed himself away and stood to leave. Hyuuga grabbed his arm.

"Where are you going?" He asked when Konatsu looked back at him.

"I'm going to go apologize to everybody. I can't let my actions ruin your reputation." He explained. Hyuuga could only roll his eyes.

"You didn't do anything to apologize for. All you did was worry about you superior, just like any good begleiter would. If anything, I'm touched. Considering how much you yell at me, I almost thought you didn't care." He said with a smile. Konatsu grimaced.

"Well, if you would do your own paperwork for once instead of drawing on it, I wouldn't have to yell so much." He shot back. Hyuuga chuckled and pulled Konatsu back into his lap.

"But you're so cute when you're angry~"

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