Chapter 2

Yohji smiled as he looked down at Aya, who was sleeping soundly. He'd gone down to give his mission report to a blushing Omi and by the time he'd come upstairs Aya was fast asleep, his wet hair leaving a damp spot on the pillow.

Yohji slid into the bed beside him, tugging Aya up against his chest.

"You awake?" Yohji whispered.

"Am now," Aya murmured, resting his head against Yohji's shoulder like usual.

"You've been troubled. What's up?" Yohji ran his fingers through Aya's cold hair.

"In the morning. Shut up," Aya muttered, going back to sleep. Yohji sighed at that. He gave Aya a light shake, waking him back up.

"Knock it off!" Aya hissed, rising up on his elbow to glare at him.

"Tell me," Yohji brushed the red locks out of Aya's eyes, trying to keep his smile on when Aya was getting angry.

"In the damned morning. I'm sleeping," Aya tried to lie back down, but Yohji caught him, keeping him sitting.

"Not anymore you aren't," Yohji teased.

Aya just glared and got out of bed, obviously heading back to his own room after throwing on a pair of jeans that Yohji knew were his . Why did everything have to be like pulling teeth just to get an honest answer?

Yohji followed him, stark naked, down the hall.

"Do you mind!" Aya hissed, trying to shove him back into his room.

"Would you two knock it…" Omi stared, his eyes wide as saucers as he stared at Yohji.

"Its one in the morning, can you two please not bitch in the hallway?" Ken growled, coming out wearing nothing but a pair of boxers. His face suddenly matched Omi's, going beat red.

"Go back to your room," Aya shoved him harder this time.

"Not until you talk to me. Remember our conversation about communication? Well, I'm listening, so fess up," Yohji grabbed Aya by the arm and led him back into his bedroom.

"I can't let them get away with what they did to me," Aya said very quietly, like he was expecting a huge outburst from Yohji.

"The collar was my idea, Aya. If you're pissed about it then hit me, but leave…"

"Not the collar!" Aya growled, heading back for the bed.

"Then what…oh, Schwartz! I thought you meant…" Yohji laughed, scratching the back of his head and feeling like a moron for not having guessed that in the first place.

"What do you have in mind?" Yohji asked, moving in to kiss the side of Aya's neck.

"Find them and kill them." Aya traced his lips over the vein that ran down the side of Yohji's neck before sucking up a mark there.

"No, I mean what's your strategy? I'm going with you, but there's four of them. Ken and Omi can come along, too…"

"Just you and me. Someone has to do missions while we're gone. And I haven't come up with anything yet. Mastermind has to go first, though. Otherwise he'll just get inside my head again. He said my thoughts are clear as water, so I have to make my thoughts so random that he'll get a migraine and we can kill him. Other than that I haven't the slightest clue what to do." Aya leaned into his arms, making Yohji smile. He loved moments like this, even if they were talking about Schwartz, when he had Aya all to himself. Where he could hold Aya in his arms and just think about nothing but love.

"Do you think going after them is a good idea?" This time Yohji kissed him chastely on the lips.

"No, but it has to be done," Aya kissed him back, his eyes worried as Yohji watched his facial expression change from angry to upset.

"Okay. But I'm not leaving your side even for a second. We are doing this together, so don't get it in your head that you can ditch me part way, even if I have to drag you into the same bathroom stall with me."

Aya snorted at that, making Yohji grin from ear to ear.

"Now lets say we get into bed and think about the details later," Yohji led him back toward the soft bed, glad that Aya was finally relaxing. He hated making the man upset, but sometimes there was no way of getting around it if he was going to pry any information out of him.

Aya settled back in against him, his body so chilled that Yohji started to shiver as he yanked the blankets over them.

He wrapped his arms tightly around Aya, warming the man up against his chest. He deposited a light kiss to Aya's forehead before relaxing and letting sleep take him.

Author's notes: Finally the two can work together.