Two long months after the dome's sinking, Weiss was temporarily released. Only in cases of emergency would they be recruited again. Schwarz was not sighted since then… until…

"Ayakun! Hurry up!" Omi squeaked as he put on his satin gloves, followed by wearing his sports shoes. Aya from upstairs practically fled down the stairs after he heard Omi, silently grumbling about the younger teammate's complaint of him being slow.

"What? Going out again?" Ken retorted, exiting the kitchen with a pot in his hands. He watched Aya put on his gloves as well.

"Hai hai, we won't be back for dinner most likely." Omi simply replied and unlocked the door. Once opened, he burst out of the house, jumped over the front steps and onto the snow filled streets. Roofs of buildings and houses were filled with the white-frozen waters, and nearby park lakes were frozen on the surface.

Even with the place frozen to the brim, the sky is still reluctant to let snow fall. Aya made his way down the few flights of steps before getting onto the street. He was a bit late to catch Omi who threw a handful of snow directly into his face.

He frowned and brushed off the snow from his slightly flushed face and made his way down to the main streets. The younger Weiss happily kept throwing the snow until Aya got fed up with the game.

He bent, scooped up snow with both hands and dumped them on Omi's head when he got near. He smiled to himself when Omi started whining about him throwing his hat off balance. Both kept tossing bits of snow at each other until they were out of the flower shop's sight.

"Those two get along well…" Ken muttered to himself. He continued his making in lunch when he heard a crash outside. He immediately placed the pot on the stove and darted outside to find Yoji entangled up in his own mess. "What are you doing?"

"Don't ask a thing. I was trying to untangle the stupid string and wasn't aware that a particular ball was on the steps and down rolled I went", Yoji growled. Ken turned his view to his soccer ball which rolled slowly about and laughed. "Excuse me Ken Hidaka, you're friggin' ball just caused me to fall and you can stand there and laugh? What nerves."

Ken helped Yoji up and picked his ball as well. He tried to reason with the blonde that one on the few kids he taught must have left the ball on the steps. Funny thing was, Omi and Aya didn't even notice it.

"Where's Ayan and chibi?" Yoji asked, using his fork to jab the meatball. Unfortunately, he missed and it went rolling off his plate.

"Yoji, don't make a mess. Aya and Omi went out to do some late grocery shopping."

"Have you noticed that those two go out more often these days?"

"I find nothing wrong. Neither Birman nor Manx have informed us of anything, so I'm sure they'd be bored staying at home anyways."

"Not that you dong. What I mean is, that they always go out together?"

"Oh… that…" Ken crossed his arms and stared in thinking. "I don't know, but it sounds kinda fishy…" And a thought shot through him. "Don't tell me….?"

"Holy shit…"

"There they are!" Omi yelled, hooking his arm with Aya's as they approached the fountain in the large centre. The redhead just tagged along and let Omi drag him along. After a few minutes of tugging they finally the fountain's side to meet their two boyfriends.

"Omi, that wasn't the first time you're late", Nagi grumbled.

"Gomene, Nagi-kun! Aya-kun was doing his usual slow walk and I had to drag him…", Omi said, scratching his head.

Aya was busy staring off at something in the distance when a pair of arms snaked around his waist. "Schu, do that here and you can forget about seeing me for the next two weeks."

/What's wrong? No one'll notice…/ Schuldich smirked and kissed the other redhead. For that, he earned a tug on his hair. Omi and Nagi were busy themselves. The blonde was still trying to reason out with Nagi. The telekinetic knew the reason, but kept the topic on anyway. He enjoyed tormenting him even though Omi was older.

/Vicious bastard, aren't you Nagi?/

Ouch. Omi heard that and pouted while Aya got his revenge by escaping the snaky arms. "Why you little… come back here!" Schuldich growled and went after the fleeing Weiss. Behind, Omi and Nagi trotted behind the speedy German and an even faster Aya.

The four of them started going the shops, doing some window shopping and some serious no thanks to the aloof redhead. No matter, the two members must get some preparations before Christmas Eve. Every year on that day, a full throttle of people would be bursting into their shop and grabbing whatever they see.

If they are lucky, they don't get pulled along. Only Yoji on that day would be more than happy to flirt with all the girls. On Christmas Day, they (luckily) need not open. Mostly the items which they would need a lot would be many designs of wrappers, ribbons and even cards.

"Aya-kun, do you think this one looks better than that?" Omi asked, showing him a piece of wrapper sample. The background was green while there were mistletoes printed about. Aya stared at it for a moment and replied.

"I'm ok, but don't blame me if Yoji and Ken would start complaining 'because the girls would keep trying to steal kisses from them with the wrapper above their heads."

Omi nodded. "That would be interesting…"

"NOT!" Schuldich and Nagi yelled. Both Weiss stared at them blankly.

"If blondie and that frantic's gonna get involved, so will you two!"

Omi and Aya looked at each other. They forgot about that.

"No mistletoes. I forbid you to buy anything concerning mistletoes." Schuldich said, pushing his finger against Aya's nose. Aya frowned and tried biting his finger. Schuldich hissed and pinched his nose. Aya yelped and swat the irritating hand off his nose.

Behind them Omi and Nagi continued looking for interesting-patterned wrappers. In the end, they five different designs; one was with the typical Santa Claus riding on the reindeer sleigh. One of the designs was a wrapper which had the common Christmas items; the bells, the red-white striped mint stick and little kiddy toys.

The third one had reindeers itself, four different types of poses. The fourth was the mistletoe one which Omi picked before. (Omi managed to keep that design) And the last one were winter blooming flowers.

"Not a bad choice, but still hate the mistletoes", Schuldich taunted. He caught Aya giving him the look and wrapped an arm around his waist.

/What's with the look?/

/Schu, I know you dislike the mistletoes, but it's only for Christmas, hello?/

/Fine. I won't brood over it, but make sure blondie keeps to himself. I got a feeling he has an eye on you/

/I'll be fine. Besides, those two think Omi and I are together./

"But you aren't!" Schuldich sneered and started playing with Aya a stupid 'pull your hair' game.

"For some reason, I think it's only with Schu when Aya opens up", Nagi said to Omi. The Weiss nodded.

"And that's a good thing. Keeping to yourself at all times is actually a burden."

After the shopping spree, the two Weiss and two Schwarz went to have some Chinese cuisine for dinner. Basically it was the three Japanese who ordered. Schuldich didn't know any of the dishes.

"What's this?" Schuldich brows closed in as he used a pair of chopsticks to poke the white-soft dumpling in front of him. "And how do you use this crap?" He asked again, waving the peach coloured chopstick about.

Aya sighed and pictured a mind of how to use it and Schuldich frowned again. He had noticed Omi and Nagi were laughing secretly behind their hands.

"What? You got a problem with that? Not everyone in this friggin' world knows how to use a pair of chopsticks ok."

Aya replied for them an 'hn' and started eating. Schuldich was puffed up his cheeks seeing that his boyfriend was still as cool as ice. Deciding for a little more fun, the telepath wrapped an arm around the slim waist and d hoisted Aya up his lap.

Aya snarled and jabbed the pair of chopsticks into his ribs. Schuldich only laughed as it had a mixture of ticklish and pain.

/Schu, if you don't put me down this instance, I'm leaving/

/Nein nein, you have to stay here to eat liebe/

Thwack

/Don't call me that!/

Omi and Nagi had long gone started their meal. Both knew they were talking telepathically and just left them alone. They weren't noticed until Schuldich spoke.

"Dammit, Nagi, Crawford wants us back home now."

"So what does he want?"

"Paper work done." And the younger Japanese frowned.

Nagi watched him carefully as Aya took this chance to slip off his lap and back to his much better and less uncomfortable seat. He heard Schuldich growled but ignored him totally though.

After eating they started to chat, excluding Aya who simply refuses to talk in such non-sensual things. Omi and Nagi practically sweat-dropped. In any way, the other three just continued talking about the events going around on Christmas Day. There were snowman making competitions, shopping sale and some other crap. Most importantly, they wanted to go to a theme park. Aya's turn to sweat drop.

"No way in hell will I be going there. Those places have a thousand and one people pushing and shoving just to get a ride on that darn roller coaster."

"What? Aya-kun afraid of the round-round little ride?" Schuldich teased.

Thwack

"Stop hitting me with those damn things already!"

It was only around ten when the two Weiss returned back to the shop. Walking towards the door, Omi was (still) trying to convince Aya to follow them to the theme park. Abruptly refusing though, he tried dismissing the younger one as he was becoming more of a nuisance.

"Ne, Aya-kun!" Omi pleaded, giving Aya the all-so-shiny eyes. Aya returned with a soft smile and Omi was in high spirits…

"No."

Omi gave him a narrowed frown. What an ass. If the redhead was afraid of the cold, he would've have him bare under the snow until he agrees. Hooking his arms around the larger one, Omi still kept persisting.

That moment the door swung open with Ken to greet them. He was about to shout a 'hi'. Instead, his mouth hung open when the sight before him nearly made him drop dead.

"Uh… hi?"

Omi finally noticed the error in the picture and quickly let go of his arms. Ken was a bit too dumbfounded to speak for that period. Aya just ignored everything and went into the house with Omi following and blushing behind.

"Er…guys… we need to talk", Ken said, closing the door behind him and following the two. "You see, Yoji and I…"

"You both think we're dating each other?" Aya cut in, hanging his dark grey coat on the hanger. Ken seemed surprised for a moment, then nodded. Aya managed a silent snicker and walked off.

"Mou, Ken-kun, when did you become such a busybody?" Omi laughed, giving the soccer player a large smack on his back. Ken coughed and watched the younger Weiss dart up the stairs. Ken scratched his neck and went to the kitchen and tried getting the matter out of his head.

"They're very close to finding Aya-kun… What are we to do?" Omi wailed, hopping onto Aya's large bed. Aya, who was already on the bed, just replied 'let them do what they want' which caused Omi to fume.

He grabbed the pillow under Aya's head and whopped him on the head which was when the redhead had his full attention to the culprit. Omi pouted back at him and smacked the white cotton-stuffed pillow against Aya's arm.

Aya growled loudly and grabbed the other pillow which lay restlessly beside him and used it to whack Omi repeatedly. They kept hitting and avoiding as much as they could and that was the only time Omi got a glance of Aya actually laughing. Both ended their pillow fights when they heard a knockon the door.

"Aya, Omi, down at the kitchen 'kay guys?" Yoji said and left. They two Weiss were not surprised that Yoji had not said anything about their secret relationships with Schuldich and Nagi.

/Whoa, you should see the suspicions swirling in their head/ Both of them heard in their heads.

/Schu, leave their minds alone/ Aya warned as he placed back his pillow on the bed.

/Is Nagi-kun there?/ Omi asked happily. Aya rolled his eyes and snatched the other pillow from Omi's hands.

/Yes I'm here. Anything?/

Aya thought for a moment, then pictured the kitchen in his mind.

/Those two are hoping to get some information out of you two. Apparently they are wondering if you guys are gay or just gay/ Schuldich joked.

/Thanks Schu./

/For that, you gotta go with us to you-know-where/ Aya heard him sneer. He just hn'ed softly and he could feel the telepath's laugh. He could have sworn he just did a hi-five with Nagi or something.

Well, actually, he didn't that mind. Just hated the people that go there. He sighed to himself and got ready for the troubles ahead of him.

Both Aya and Omi headed down to the kitchen when they changed back to some comfortable clothing that they could wear around the house. In the kitchen Ken and Yoji were already talking softly about something which both Weiss did not take long to figure out.

"Now what?" Aya said in his stern and cold voice. Ken and Yoji jumped from their seats. Aya stared back at them with his arms crossed over his chair and leaned against the wall. Yoji and Ken gave the 'heh heh' and settled back down on the chairs.

"Ken-kun, Yoji-kun, you two are getting weirder by the day? What's bothering you?"

"YOU TWO!" They both blurted. Aya and Omi stared wide-eyed back at them.

"Well, you two have been going out recently, Omi I wouldn't really care as he always does it, but Aya! When did you go out so often, further more with Omi?!?" Ken babbled. Aya kept silent as usual, but death glared at Ken.

"What we're trying to say is…"

"We're gay?" Aya cut in. "Well, you two don't know the true story behind it, so don't start building castles in the air." Once finished, Aya left and went upstairs to his room.

On the day at the amusement park, the four were having a time of their lives. Maybe not really Aya, but he seemed to enjoy it a little. When they reached, the first thing they did was playing the roller coaster. The lined up for half an hour just for the few minute ride, but seems quite worth it.

They got the front four seats with an extra person on one end beside Nagi, and the ride started. The ride started by going up real the track slow. They caught a really nice view of the large park; all the rides were so visible from up here. They were too busy admiring the view when suddenly the ride stopped right the tip of the high track. Slowly, it tilted downwards and everyone tensed.

When enough weight was pulled forwards, the coaster was given a sudden push from the bottom track and down they went going at full speed. Nagi, Omi and Schuldich were screaming their heads off while Aya was holding back at the sudden drop. Down, right, loop, left, loop again and upside down. They went up again to a shorter ramp and down they went again, swerving sides to sides at sharp turns here and there.

After the coaster everyone was walking wobbly with jelly legs even stiff Aya was having problems walking with all those rounds and loops. Schuldich was laughing and supported the dizzy redhead while walking. Nagi and Omi were practically lying on each other for balance and walking zigzag motion about.

"Hey look! It's the high drop!" Omi managed to squeak. He pointed to a ride where the machine brings you meters in the air, letting you see the nice atmosphere. After hanging there for a minute, the machine literally drops you down. Even from down here, you can really hear the loud screams of fright.

"I wanna take that one! How about it?" Omi asked, dragging the dizzy telekinetic with him. If he were to take that ride right after the roller coater, he'd puke of fright. Schuldich was rather interested in the ride and agreed to go with Omi. Aya wasn't so keen on riding such.

"You two go ahead. Ran and I'll go get some snacks and drinks", Nagi offered. Omi pouted but let his boyfriend go. Schuldich was also trying to pursue Aya in playing the ride with him, but Aya simply refused.

"I'll get the drinks. You two hurry up with your ride." Ran said and led the way to the snack bar. Over there, both Nagi and Ran took a seat and watched Omi and Schuldich lining up. It would probably take at least fifteen minutes before their turn.

"Ran, Schu told me Yoji and Ken are suspecting you and Omi are together", Nagi spoke all of a sudden. Ran looked surprised at that question but replied anyways.

"Aa, they think so. I don't really care about what they think though."

"Do you love Schuldich?" The telekinesis asked again. Ran raised a fine brow and took a sip from his drink. "If you don't wish to reply, I'm ok…"

"I don't know. It's hard to answer such question. I do care for Schu, but sometimes he's a real pain. But overall, I think I can't live without him. He saved me, and without him I would've been dead by now." Ran sighed.

When it was their turn to get on, Schuldich and Omi took seats by each other and got ready. It took only twenty second before they reached the 30-meter high point. Again, they get to experience a nice view. Schuldich was busy looking about when Omi caught sight of something.

"Oh my gosh! Schu!" Omi squealed and pointed to a table where two people are seated. One was a blonde and the other was a chocolate brown hair person. They were seated on the other side of the snack bar opposite Ran and Nagi. "It's Ken-kun and Yoji-kun!"

"That's not good. We have to get out of this areaaaAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!!!!" Schuldich yelled at the unexpected drop. Omi screamed as well as they dropped at high speed and stopped three quarters the height before rising and falling again.

At the snack bar Nagi and Ran eyed the two playing the ride and giggling slightly at their faces. They were pretty unaware at the fact opposite on the other side was Ken and Yoji, but those two are as clueless at the other two.

Once done, Omi and Schuldich ran up to the other two and without saying anything, just pulled them along and headed to another side. While running, Nagi and Ran were making noises and demanding for a proper explanation for the sudden outburst.

"The two friends of your are here and they are both stalking you two. We have to get to the other side." Schuldich said quickly. Ran understood it clearly and picked up speed.

"Tell me again, why are we here?" Ken asked being bored.

"For the thousandth time, it's to track down Aya and Omi", Yoji replied, taking a bite from his hotdog. Ken watch Yoji finish it up when he saw a flash of red rushing pass quickly.

"Ran!" Yoji immediately got up from his seat and looked at the direction Ken stared at. He caught a glimpse of Aya and Omi running behind a corner. The two also started running. When they turned, they saw the both of them disappear in the house of mirrors. "There!"

Just before they enter they were pushed aside by a few big size thugs. Hot on their tail were police officers who told everyone to move away from the entrance. The police asked the conductor if anyone was inside and he simply replied a no.

"What the hell! That guy must be blind! Ran and Omi are inside!" Ken protested. Yoji went up to one of the officers and tried telling him that two people were in there. The man though, told Yoji off and to stay away even before Yoji finished speaking.

"That bastard said that those five gorillas that went in are some wanted criminals for stealing…" Yoji told Ken. There was something wrong with Yoji's expression though.

"And?"

Yoji took a deep breath and replied. "They're criminal masterminds for numerous rape cases as well."

"Well? Where are they now?" Nagi asked. Schuldich replied only a minute later.

"In the house of mirrors. They said they would stay around there until they find Yoji or Ken."

"In that case, why're there police surrounding the place."

"Oh shit"

"Ran-kun! Where are you?" Omi yelled. No reply came. Right after entering both of them got separated. To make the matters worst, they'd pretty much stuck in this mirror maze. "Ran-kun!" Omi shouted again.

There was a small reply. A little muffling noises on the other side. He made a turn hoping to find Ran, but instead bumped into some really big muscled guys. "Ah, sorry. I was looking for someone so…"

"Hey, cute kid," one of them said. Omi started to get a bad feeling. He was about to reach for a dart in his back pocket when he realized that in his pockets there were none. This is going to be very bad.

In a split second, Omi turned and tried to run, but only to get caught by his colar. He was being pulled back against one of them and strong beefy arms wrapped around him. He thrashed about and yelled when one of them grabbed hold onto his leg. Omi managed to catch the person on the chin with his other free leg.

"Hey, that itches", the man laughed. The rest laughed along and proceeded towards Omi.

Behind one of the guys cried out. All turn their attention behind and Omi managed to wriggle out of the grip. He moved to one side when he heard Ran's voice. "Omi! Get out of here!"

Despite though, he did not know whether he should leave Ran alone here with these five huge guys or stay to help him. Ran was busy trying to escape from vice grips and delivered a blow across one of the guy's face. When he was on one foot though, another one who got hit earlier tripped the assassin with his foot.

Now the redhead was on the floor. "Omi! Run!" Ran shouted. "Find Schu and Nagi!" Omi bit his lip and reluctantly left the place and made his was into the maze again.

"Ho ho, now you're all alone. You let our little catch get away you naughty boy. Maybe we should teach you a lesson!" One of them cackled, most likely to be the leader. He flinched when his both his wrists was forcefully pinned above his head.

"Let me go you ass", Ran growled. The man just laughed and tilted his head towards his.

"You're real pretty. What is your name?"

"My name is none of your business son of a bitch. Let me go or else…"

"Or else what?"

Ran glared at the leader when he gave a signal. "I'll make sure you suffer", He said before closing in. Another guy had a hand up his shirt while another reached for his belt. He shut his eyes and held back a cry he nearly wanted to scream.

/Schu/

"What do you think you're trying to do to my kitten?"

Ran' eyes flicked open to see Schuldich standing a short distance away. A very pissed Schuldich. "Who the hell are you?" The leader shouted. Schuldich did not answer.

"I asked 'What are you trying to do to my kitten', so answer me before I answer you."

"What we do isn't your business."

"Then my name isn't your business. Let go of my kitten."

"You challenging me?!?" The leader boomed. Schuldich did not nudge a bit.

"Last chance. Let go of my kitten or you'll regret big time."

"Try me."

After five minutes the fight was over. Schuldich simply brushed his hands together and faced Ran. He was on the floor, seated and was watching him blankly. "Oi, wakey wakey." Schuldich teased.

Ran looked up to see Schuldich bending over him. "Don't have to be afraid. I'm here, aren't I?"

Ran stared in silence before throwing his arms around Schuldich's neck. Schuldich hoisted the redhead to his feet and held onto his hand. "Come on, Omi and Nagi are waiting for us outside."

When Ran and Schuldich were out of the house of mirrors, they were greeted by Omi and Nagi. "Ran-kun, are you okay? They didn't d anything I hope", Omi said worriedly. Ran returned a tiny smile as said he was alright.

Ken and Yoji went up to the four and stood there.

Yoji eyed Ran and Ran returned the stare. "When did you go out with Schwarz? I thought they're your worst enemies."

A rather rare thing happened. Ran smiled. In was not big, but definitely visible. "When I fell in love." He said as he held onto Schuldich's hand tightly.

"Well, you should have told us earlier!" Ken said out loud. Two Weiss and two Schwarz had wide eyes.

"Ken-kun, you're not going to be angry?"

"Why would I be? You're happy, I'm happy, so what's the fuss?"

"Yay! I thought you two would get real mad if you found out we have been gong out with Schwarz members!" Omi said happily and jumped on Ken. Ken laughed and paused when he saw an eerie aura around Nagi.

"Um… Omi…You can let go now…" Ken staggered. Omi finally let go and locked his arm with Nagi's. "Let's go play some more! I believe we missed some nice rides before while running away!"

Schuldich, Yoji ans Ran watched as the two assassins were pulled along by Omi. Ken had a very scared look while Nagi had again that eerie aura surrounding him.

"So, when were you two together?" Yoji asked. Schuldich and Ran looked at him. "What? I just asked a question."

"Yotan is jealous. Don't even think of touching my kitten."

"Who said I want to?!? Don't jump to conclusions Mastermind!" Yoji retorted.

At that moment Ran fled away from the quarrelling two when both of them noticed his motives of sneaking away.

"COME BACK HERE!" Both of them yelled as they ran after Ran who was trotting after the few in front.

For once, Ran actually laughed.

End