Alone With You

Author's Note: This is a sequel to my other fic Alone Again. Some people wanted for Ken to meet up with Ericka, so in this one, he will and he will be crushed, at least in my opinion he's being crushed. But that's okay because someone he never expected to is going to help put him back together. Yea, there will be two yaoi pairings in this fic.

Disclaimer: I own nothing, besides Ericka

Warnings: Yaoi (boys with boys in case you didn't know),

Two days after Erika had left, two days of moping around and thinking morbid thoughts, Ken decided to do something.

He was going to meet with Erika to try and get her to come back. Since he knew her entire schedule from memory, it was pretty easy to track her down. She was sitting in her regular lunch spot at a quaint little café with her black coffee with two sugars and her chocolate éclair as usual.

Erika usually ate here at the same time everyday simple because it was close to where she worked and they had terrific éclairs, as she'd told Ken once. He knew she liked this place because this was where they'd first met. He'd been having a conference with one of his footballer's parents for behavior problems and Erika had been sitting in her booth, crying silent tears into her coffee.

*Flashback*

Ken said goodbye to Taichi's parents and walked up to the dark-haired young lady that he'd seen weeping quietly. "Is everything alright?" He asked, chocolate eyes shimmering with worry. The brunette had never been one to stand by and let someone suffer. It reminded him too much of his mother…

He shook off the bad memories and sat down across from her. He cupped his broad, callused hands around the ones that trembled holding onto a coffee cup, still half-hull of the liquid that had cooled by now.

"Um…It's nothing. Please don't worry about me…Just go on living your life." The girl mumbled, wiping at her tear-stricken face with one hand. This only smeared her make-up to the point where mascara and lipstick combined to coat various patches of her creamy looking face.

"Please? I'm a good listener and I'm not leaving until your pretty face is a tear free zone." Pleaded the young assassin. Ken wasn't as good as Yohji in getting girls to feel better with cheesy lines, but he wasn't too bad. Touring with the J-League had helped a lot with that in consoling the fans whenever they lost a match or he had to turn down the many offers of marriage he'd gotten. "So just tell me what's wrong. I'm not going to let either of us leave until you tell me."

She snapped at him, suddenly angry. "Fine, my father died this morning and my boyfriend just broke up with me…Nngh…."She saw Ken's raised eyebrow and elaborated. " My dad had Leukemia for six years and just couldn't fight any more…That jack-off I called a boyfriend decided that I was too gloomy and depressing and just dumped me. I mean, how are you supposed to feel after your only living relative dies? Should I be happy? Or maybe I should be joyful. That guy was an asshole. I'm glad he's gone."

"I'm sorry about your dad. My mother also had cancer. There was a large malignant tumor near the spinal column at the base of her skull…" The brunette confessed, thinking back to when his days were filled with hospital visits and a lonely house. "That guy sounds like a total jerk."

"He really was a jerk. I just didn't want to see it because I was so in love with the idea of him loving me and he was so nice sometimes. I guess I thought that I could get him to be nice all the time. I should've known better, it's hard to change a lifetime of bad habits…" She sighed. Suddenly Alice9's Akatsuki started to play. Ken grabbed the singing device from his pocket and read the caller id before answering.

"Mushi-msushi?" (How to say phone-hello in Japan)

"Ken, mission." Was all Aya said before hanging up the phone brutally.

The brunette sighed deeply. He grabbed a pen from the depths of his other jacket pocket and wrote something down on a napkin. "Here, if you ever need to talk again or you just need someone to be there for you, come here and ask for Ken. It's where I work. Don't worry thought; it's nothing sketchy, just a plain flower shop." Ken said with a smile. "Now I've got to run. See ya around!"

He ran out the door , jumping on his bike, and raced home to become his darker half once again to protect the streets of Tokyo from people like himself…

*End Flashback*

'At least she isn't crying this time.' He thought as he walked through the doors. Taking a deep breath, Ken headed over to her. He stopped in front of her and spoke. "Ericka, we need to talk."

Her eyes shot up and she jumped out of the worn red-pleather booth.

"Don't you even dare come any closer to me, you murderer. I'm not sure what's worse: that you kill people for money on a usual basis, or that everything you told me was a lie." She hissed.

"What did I ever lie about?" Ken demanded to know. People were starting to look. 'I should end this…a scene would be very, very bad right now.' He thought.

"Oh I don't know…How about that you kill people! I'd say that's pretty important to know. And not telling is just a lie of omission! How would I have even known if you just got close to me to kill me? Every word that has come out of your mouth to me has been a lie, you self-righteous bastard!" Ericka grabbed her purse and headed to the door. "Don't talk to me; don't touch me with those filthy hands. Goodbye Ken Hidaka, Good. Bye!" She yelled before making a hasty and angered exit.

Ken immediately got out of the shop. Feeling repulsed by himself, the brunette headed back to the flower shop. But first, he stopped by the liquor store. The former football star was good need of some strong alcohol for the rest of the evening to unfocus his thoughts from certain truths and ladies with long hair the color of dark chocolate like the one who broke his heart.

On his way, Ken dejectedly thought that Omi might help him feel better because he'd never gone to the younger boy when Ericka had first left him two days ago. Talking to Yohji was going to be his back-up plan if Omi was busy or having troubles of his own.

"Hey Omi…can we talk?" Ken asked as soon as he opened the door. The footballer stopped talking. Yohji and Omi were making out and touching each other on the counter. Omi was sitting beside the register on the heavy wooden desk, legs tightly wrapped around the oldest member of Weiss's waist. The man who was currently nibbling on Omi's neck, leaving what would be a very large hickey, and making the boy moan like a well-practiced whore. 'Well, there go my options…' The brunette thought dolefully.

Ken put the hand not holding liquor over his eyes and walked through the shop to the stairs. "I saw nothing. Go on about your business guys. "He said as he walked up to his room. Feeling more depressed than ever, he sat down on his bed and opened his bottle of imported Jack Daniels. Ken had first tried the drink while on tour with the J-League and had loved it. Now he drank it every time he felt above average, or below the proverbial line of mental wellness.

'Oh well, I guess the only way to get rid of heartache is to deal with it on your own.' Ken thought, taking a large swig straight from the bottle.

Reaching over to the desk beside his double bed, Ken turned on his stereo and tuned it to a station that only played depressing songs. It fit his mood perfectly and would help him get better quicker. The only other option he had was to go out and kill something, and that wasn't really an option. He laid back on his bed to get drunk and relax, even as he slipped some of his booze onto his running jacket. The brunette had almost drunken half the bottle when there was a faint knock at the door. Ken almost didn't hear it.

When the footballer didn't tell whoever was at the door to go away, the mysterious person proceeded to open the door and come inside. It was Aya. His face looked different from usual though. Instead of looking indifferent or annoyed, the red head looked…conflicted. He almost…he almost looked worried. 'Nah, not "Ice-Man" Aya, he doesn't care about anything besides his sister and his car. No way would he ever be concerned about me.' Ken thought, taking another swig.

"Hey there…Eya…Iya…Aya-kun. Wha's up Red Leader Number One?" asked the brunette, stumbling through the sentences.

"Are you drunk, Ken? It smells like a cheap, American bar in here." Aya said coldly.

(Nothing against Americans, heck I am one.)

No, Im not Aya, Drunkya…wai…I mean…im not drunk Aya. What are you talking about? I'm perfectly not sober…" Ken said, trying to get up. He fell flat on his face. "Whoa, when did the floor get so high up?" (drunks are so much fun to write ^^)

"Ken…can't you even try to take care of yourself?" Aya said, stooping down to pick up his inebriated teammate. He placed the man on the bed and pulled the covers around him to make him comfortable. Then the redhead sat down beside him to talk.

"What happened this time, Ken? I know you. You don't drink unless something is broken inside you. You're not yourself when you're like this. I don't like to see you like this." Aya said, looking at Ken with heartfelt eyes.

"I can't do anything right…I try and I try, and every time I get crushed. Why can't we find love, Aya? I just want to be loved…maybe by a regular person who doesn't have to worry about me killing them in the middle of the night…It just hurts, y'know?" the brunette said, tears forming in his eyes.

"Ken, nobody outside the business would ever understand what we go through. They wouldn't know why you have to wash your hands fifteen times every time you look at them because you still think there's blood. They wouldn't know what to do when you wake up screaming from reoccurring nightmares…" Aya said, listing things that he'd observed in Ken. "We aren't like other people so we can't hope to find love with them, but maybe we can find love somewhere." The redhead stated, looking Ken in the eye.

"What're you talking about, Aya? I…don't understand." Ken said. He kind of understood what Aya was implying, but wanted the stoic to actually say it.

"I love you Ken. I don't like seeing you get hurt like this, and I know that you probably don't think of me like that. I just wanted you to know that somebody loves you…" He said, kissing the back of the soccer player's hand before he rose and left the room.

Ken sat, blinking on his bed, trying to figure out what had just happened. "Did the Ice Prince really just confess to me? Or am I so drunk I'm imagining scenarios that would help me feel better? Probably the second one, but why would I imagine a love confession from Aya? Do I have feelings for him?" The brunette asked himself.

Owari

Should Ken confess to Aya in the next one? Should I even write a next one? Review and tell me what you think…