Chapter 7 Bad Nights
"Yohji-kun," Omi called from the hall. "Are you going out tonight?"
I pulled the razor along my cheek, wiping away the shaving cream. "Yea, you can come in if you want."
Omi's head sneaked in through the door. "I just wanted to tell you that we're closing the shop early tomorrow because of the mission."
I watched his reflection in the mirror. "Are we leaving that early?"
"Mhm, if we don't find our targets before dusk, we might lose them for another week. They're leaving again tomorrow night."
I rinsed my face and turned to look at Omi. "Alright," I grinned, "does that mean I don't have a shift tomorrow?"
"Right." He smiled at me.
I laughed and ruffled his hair as I walked past him into the hallway. "You're a good kid!"
"Hey, Yohji-kun," he called after me, and I turned around to look at him. "Where are you going?"
"Gonna talk to Aya before I go out."
"Drive carefully." Omi smiled at me. "There's supposed to be a storm tonight."
"Thanks, kid!" I waved to him as I turned the corner to where the door to Ran's room was, dark and ominous.
"Ay~a," I called as I knocked lightly. "I have a present for you!" I waited patiently for him to come and open the door for me; it usually took him a while, as if he were doing my a favor by letting me in.
Finally, I heard the inside lock click and Ran pulled open the door. Almost dismally, gave me one embittered glace and walked back into his room, leaving the door open for me. "What do you want?"
I walked in and closed the door behind myself. "Well, I have three orders of business with you tonight." I watched him with a smirk on my lips.
"Three?" He asked, mockingly. "Perhaps you'll finally figure me out, then?"
My smirk turned to a frown. "What's that supposed to mean?"
Dejectedly, Ran let himself fall onto the bed. "Go ahead, PI Kudou, ask your questions."
"I'm glad you can be so cooperative." I joked and sat down on the bed, next to him. "My first question is about this morning."
Before I even got to ask it, he had an answer for me. "I already told you more than I wanted you to know. I don't know any more. Don't bother asking." He kept his focus on the ceiling.
"Alright," I sighed, willing to let that go. I let myself fall back onto the bed and turned my head to look at him. "Also, you said this won't be your first mission."
Again, he had an answer before I had a question. "Crashers. I worked for them before I joined Weiss."
"Crashers, eh?" This was definitely new. Looks like our dear Ran had an impressive résumé. "Why'd you leave?" I turned onto my side and rested my chin on my hand. This was about to get interesting.
"That's none of your concern." Or not.
Ran looked like he was remembering something; eyes half-lidded, focusing on something neither of us could really see. I was suddenly reminded of his first night here, only a couple of days ago. As I was fixing him up, I remember thinking that he looked like such a porcelain doll, and I wondered how Ken could have punched him without worrying that he'll shatter into pieces. I got that feeling again, and I couldn't help but run my hand along his cheek, even if just to make sure that he's real.
When he got that distant look on his face, I knew it was alright to touch him. That's pretty much the only time he wouldn't glare or get the katana. He just laid there, peacefully, but it seemed like everything that he was thinking about was causing him pain. It hurt just to see that expression on his face. The Crashers, whoever they are, must have been an important chapter in his life.
"What was the third thing?" Ran snapped out of his daze and turned his head to look at me.
I didn't really know what he was talking about; too absorbed, if you know what I mean. He's got a pretty face. What can I say? "What third thing?"
"You said you had 'three orders of business' with me."
Oh, that! "Right!" I stood up and dug through the pockets of my absurdly expensive pants. I pulled out a key and waved it in front of Ran.
"And?" He scrunched his eyebrows at me and pulled himself up into a sitting position.
"I found my old keys today," I declared proudly.
He stared at them, frowning. "So?"
"I'm going to give them to you." I tossed him the keys, and he instinctively caught them.
"Why?"
"Now who's asking all the questions?" He glared at me, and I laughed. "For safe keeping. Chances are that if I lose one set, I lose the other, too. They're safer with you."
Ran looked down at the keys and then back up at me as if he were seeing me for the first time. "You're going out?"
"Yup," I grinned and spun around on my heals. "How do I look?"
"Like a prostitute," he told me, blankly, which made him sound very serious.
"I'll take that as a compliment."
"I didn't intend it as one."
I briefly wondered about what I could have said or done to turn the bitchiness on. Then I think I suddenly figured out what the problem was. If I were in his situation, I wouldn't like me very much right now either. I sighed and walked back towards the door. "I'll be back early," I said as I reached for the knob.
"I don't see why I should care," Ran replied, coldly.
I slipped through the door but stuck my head back inside for just a second. "You can also feel free to make use of my keys whenever you'd like." With that, I stepped away and closed the door behind me.
As I walked down the exterior staircase, I thought about what time I should be home so that Ran could get some sleep. I knew I didn't have to do this -make alterations like this for him- but I found that I was looking forward to coming home. I can't explain it, and it must sound ridiculous, but my demons don't haunt me when he's there. Judging from what I see, the same goes for him.
The drive to my favorite club racked up about thirty minutes' worth, and that's already going way past the speed limit. I'll make a long story short. About half-way there, it started pouring. Omi nailed this one right on the dot. I wasn't worried, though, because when it started to really storm I was still on well-lit roads. The major problem came along when I got to the highway, about three-quarters way to my destination, and I couldn't see anything past the rain and darkness. To pile up my bad luck, this was just about the time when my trusty Seven decided, in its entirety, to stop running.
I sat behind the wheel for a few more minutes, trying to make it start up, but it was all futile. I resigned myself to the fact that I'm royally screwed over and got out of the car. It's a good thing I'm generally a mild-mannered person because if I weren't I would have most likely thrown myself over the side of the road and down the cliff. I tied my hair back so that the wet strands would stay out of my face and prepared myself for a hell of a shitty night.
From experience, I knew that there was a gas station only a couple miles up the road. I steered the wheel with one hand and pushed my whole body weight against the car. To spare you the details of this painful ordeal I'll just tell you that it sucked and that all I could think about as I pushed Seven up the road was how Ran would be tortured by his nightmares tonight.
When I got to the gas station, I "parked" Seven under a roof and slumped wearily against her. I was thankful that, at least, the rain stopped pounding me. I breathed heavily as I wiped the water off my face and wringed it out of my hair. I looked up to see a large, greasy man standing in front of me.
"Bitch broke down?" He asked through the cigarette in between his lips.
"Yea," I said and pulled myself off the ground. The man, Rikiya as indicated by the little nametag on his shirt, was a good two inches taller than me and looked heavy enough to pick up my car and carry her back home for me. Not that I'd ever let him know where I live. I cringed at least five times.
"Let's have a look at 'er then." He stepped up to the hood and popped it open. He looked through there for about a whole minute before he turned back to me and said, "Piss off anybody lately?"
"Yea, lots of people. Why?"
He motioned for me to come look into the hood. "You see this?" He was holding a wire in his hand that looked like it had just snapped. "This wouldn't normally wear out like that on it's own. Somebody's tryn' to make your night hell."
"Someone was trying to kill me?"
"No, if they wanted to kill you they woulda done a lot worse than this. Looks like they just wanted to piss you off."
"Or stall me." I kill people for a living. A snapped wire is a welcome revenge. "How fast can you fix it?"
"I can't," Rikiya said, wiping the oil from his hands. "At least not until I can find a wire like that one."
Is it just me or is that ridiculous? "How hard can it be to find some wire?"
"Hey, hey," he held his arms up in front of him in surrender. "This is just a gas station. I don't fix shit."
"Great," I sighed and looked around for what I could possibly do now. Ran wouldn't be asleep anyway right? Might as well come get me. "Can I use your phone?"
"Yea, it's inside."
I walked into the small shop, well aware that Rikiya was a grand total of two steps behind me, and went for the phone. I dialed the number to Aya's room and let it ring a good ten times. He didn't pick up. That little bitch. I bet he knew it was me and didn't answer out of spite. I hung up angrily and decided to try Ken's room. Long shot that he'll even hear the phone let alone get up to answer it, but he was my last hope. He had his phone unplugged. Some friends I have. My options were now very limited. It came down to either walking all the way back home in the rain or staying at the station. "Can I stay here until morning?"
Rikiya moved up next to me and grinned. "No problem," he said and suddenly grabbed my ass. If Seven weren't stuck here at the mercy of this man, I would have hit his kneecap so hard he wouldn't be able to get up for a good hour.
"Never mind," I said as I walked out of the shop. "I'll hitchhike or something."
And that's how I ended up walking along the highway with my thumb out, in the middle of the night, in the rain as cars drove by every fifteen minutes and ignored the crazy man on the side of the highway walking with his thumb out, in the middle of the night, in the rain. No matter how bad things looked, I didn't regret leaving the gas station once. Not one single time did I wish that I had stayed. Pervert.
I walked for at least an hour until someone had enough pity on me to stop and pull over to the side of the road. The rain had stopped by then, and I was rather close to being somewhat dry. I pulled open the passenger door and stepped inside, practically passing out on the seat next to my savior.
"Did your car break down?" My savior, conveniently, was a gorgeous blonde with a killer body.
"Yea, what gave it away?"
She laughed and sped down the road. We covered more ground in that car in ten minutes than I could have done all night. I told her the whole story of the wire, and the gas station, and Rikiya, and we laughed and joked about it all the way back to the flower shop. Her name was Misuni. About halfway up the stairs to my apartment, I realized I hadn't gotten her phone number. Then I realized that I didn't want it, and that bothered me intensely.
By the time I got home, the sun was rising and I was just about ready to fall over and die. I pulled my key out of my jacket pocket and pushed it into the lock which clicked open nicely. I stepped inside to a pitch-dark room, messy with my clothes all over the floor, and inhabited by Ran who was lying on my bed and staring at the ceiling with a pitiful look of utter pain written on his face.
"Yohji-kun," Omi called from the hall. "Are you going out tonight?"
I pulled the razor along my cheek, wiping away the shaving cream. "Yea, you can come in if you want."
Omi's head sneaked in through the door. "I just wanted to tell you that we're closing the shop early tomorrow because of the mission."
I watched his reflection in the mirror. "Are we leaving that early?"
"Mhm, if we don't find our targets before dusk, we might lose them for another week. They're leaving again tomorrow night."
I rinsed my face and turned to look at Omi. "Alright," I grinned, "does that mean I don't have a shift tomorrow?"
"Right." He smiled at me.
I laughed and ruffled his hair as I walked past him into the hallway. "You're a good kid!"
"Hey, Yohji-kun," he called after me, and I turned around to look at him. "Where are you going?"
"Gonna talk to Aya before I go out."
"Drive carefully." Omi smiled at me. "There's supposed to be a storm tonight."
"Thanks, kid!" I waved to him as I turned the corner to where the door to Ran's room was, dark and ominous.
"Ay~a," I called as I knocked lightly. "I have a present for you!" I waited patiently for him to come and open the door for me; it usually took him a while, as if he were doing my a favor by letting me in.
Finally, I heard the inside lock click and Ran pulled open the door. Almost dismally, gave me one embittered glace and walked back into his room, leaving the door open for me. "What do you want?"
I walked in and closed the door behind myself. "Well, I have three orders of business with you tonight." I watched him with a smirk on my lips.
"Three?" He asked, mockingly. "Perhaps you'll finally figure me out, then?"
My smirk turned to a frown. "What's that supposed to mean?"
Dejectedly, Ran let himself fall onto the bed. "Go ahead, PI Kudou, ask your questions."
"I'm glad you can be so cooperative." I joked and sat down on the bed, next to him. "My first question is about this morning."
Before I even got to ask it, he had an answer for me. "I already told you more than I wanted you to know. I don't know any more. Don't bother asking." He kept his focus on the ceiling.
"Alright," I sighed, willing to let that go. I let myself fall back onto the bed and turned my head to look at him. "Also, you said this won't be your first mission."
Again, he had an answer before I had a question. "Crashers. I worked for them before I joined Weiss."
"Crashers, eh?" This was definitely new. Looks like our dear Ran had an impressive résumé. "Why'd you leave?" I turned onto my side and rested my chin on my hand. This was about to get interesting.
"That's none of your concern." Or not.
Ran looked like he was remembering something; eyes half-lidded, focusing on something neither of us could really see. I was suddenly reminded of his first night here, only a couple of days ago. As I was fixing him up, I remember thinking that he looked like such a porcelain doll, and I wondered how Ken could have punched him without worrying that he'll shatter into pieces. I got that feeling again, and I couldn't help but run my hand along his cheek, even if just to make sure that he's real.
When he got that distant look on his face, I knew it was alright to touch him. That's pretty much the only time he wouldn't glare or get the katana. He just laid there, peacefully, but it seemed like everything that he was thinking about was causing him pain. It hurt just to see that expression on his face. The Crashers, whoever they are, must have been an important chapter in his life.
"What was the third thing?" Ran snapped out of his daze and turned his head to look at me.
I didn't really know what he was talking about; too absorbed, if you know what I mean. He's got a pretty face. What can I say? "What third thing?"
"You said you had 'three orders of business' with me."
Oh, that! "Right!" I stood up and dug through the pockets of my absurdly expensive pants. I pulled out a key and waved it in front of Ran.
"And?" He scrunched his eyebrows at me and pulled himself up into a sitting position.
"I found my old keys today," I declared proudly.
He stared at them, frowning. "So?"
"I'm going to give them to you." I tossed him the keys, and he instinctively caught them.
"Why?"
"Now who's asking all the questions?" He glared at me, and I laughed. "For safe keeping. Chances are that if I lose one set, I lose the other, too. They're safer with you."
Ran looked down at the keys and then back up at me as if he were seeing me for the first time. "You're going out?"
"Yup," I grinned and spun around on my heals. "How do I look?"
"Like a prostitute," he told me, blankly, which made him sound very serious.
"I'll take that as a compliment."
"I didn't intend it as one."
I briefly wondered about what I could have said or done to turn the bitchiness on. Then I think I suddenly figured out what the problem was. If I were in his situation, I wouldn't like me very much right now either. I sighed and walked back towards the door. "I'll be back early," I said as I reached for the knob.
"I don't see why I should care," Ran replied, coldly.
I slipped through the door but stuck my head back inside for just a second. "You can also feel free to make use of my keys whenever you'd like." With that, I stepped away and closed the door behind me.
As I walked down the exterior staircase, I thought about what time I should be home so that Ran could get some sleep. I knew I didn't have to do this -make alterations like this for him- but I found that I was looking forward to coming home. I can't explain it, and it must sound ridiculous, but my demons don't haunt me when he's there. Judging from what I see, the same goes for him.
The drive to my favorite club racked up about thirty minutes' worth, and that's already going way past the speed limit. I'll make a long story short. About half-way there, it started pouring. Omi nailed this one right on the dot. I wasn't worried, though, because when it started to really storm I was still on well-lit roads. The major problem came along when I got to the highway, about three-quarters way to my destination, and I couldn't see anything past the rain and darkness. To pile up my bad luck, this was just about the time when my trusty Seven decided, in its entirety, to stop running.
I sat behind the wheel for a few more minutes, trying to make it start up, but it was all futile. I resigned myself to the fact that I'm royally screwed over and got out of the car. It's a good thing I'm generally a mild-mannered person because if I weren't I would have most likely thrown myself over the side of the road and down the cliff. I tied my hair back so that the wet strands would stay out of my face and prepared myself for a hell of a shitty night.
From experience, I knew that there was a gas station only a couple miles up the road. I steered the wheel with one hand and pushed my whole body weight against the car. To spare you the details of this painful ordeal I'll just tell you that it sucked and that all I could think about as I pushed Seven up the road was how Ran would be tortured by his nightmares tonight.
When I got to the gas station, I "parked" Seven under a roof and slumped wearily against her. I was thankful that, at least, the rain stopped pounding me. I breathed heavily as I wiped the water off my face and wringed it out of my hair. I looked up to see a large, greasy man standing in front of me.
"Bitch broke down?" He asked through the cigarette in between his lips.
"Yea," I said and pulled myself off the ground. The man, Rikiya as indicated by the little nametag on his shirt, was a good two inches taller than me and looked heavy enough to pick up my car and carry her back home for me. Not that I'd ever let him know where I live. I cringed at least five times.
"Let's have a look at 'er then." He stepped up to the hood and popped it open. He looked through there for about a whole minute before he turned back to me and said, "Piss off anybody lately?"
"Yea, lots of people. Why?"
He motioned for me to come look into the hood. "You see this?" He was holding a wire in his hand that looked like it had just snapped. "This wouldn't normally wear out like that on it's own. Somebody's tryn' to make your night hell."
"Someone was trying to kill me?"
"No, if they wanted to kill you they woulda done a lot worse than this. Looks like they just wanted to piss you off."
"Or stall me." I kill people for a living. A snapped wire is a welcome revenge. "How fast can you fix it?"
"I can't," Rikiya said, wiping the oil from his hands. "At least not until I can find a wire like that one."
Is it just me or is that ridiculous? "How hard can it be to find some wire?"
"Hey, hey," he held his arms up in front of him in surrender. "This is just a gas station. I don't fix shit."
"Great," I sighed and looked around for what I could possibly do now. Ran wouldn't be asleep anyway right? Might as well come get me. "Can I use your phone?"
"Yea, it's inside."
I walked into the small shop, well aware that Rikiya was a grand total of two steps behind me, and went for the phone. I dialed the number to Aya's room and let it ring a good ten times. He didn't pick up. That little bitch. I bet he knew it was me and didn't answer out of spite. I hung up angrily and decided to try Ken's room. Long shot that he'll even hear the phone let alone get up to answer it, but he was my last hope. He had his phone unplugged. Some friends I have. My options were now very limited. It came down to either walking all the way back home in the rain or staying at the station. "Can I stay here until morning?"
Rikiya moved up next to me and grinned. "No problem," he said and suddenly grabbed my ass. If Seven weren't stuck here at the mercy of this man, I would have hit his kneecap so hard he wouldn't be able to get up for a good hour.
"Never mind," I said as I walked out of the shop. "I'll hitchhike or something."
And that's how I ended up walking along the highway with my thumb out, in the middle of the night, in the rain as cars drove by every fifteen minutes and ignored the crazy man on the side of the highway walking with his thumb out, in the middle of the night, in the rain. No matter how bad things looked, I didn't regret leaving the gas station once. Not one single time did I wish that I had stayed. Pervert.
I walked for at least an hour until someone had enough pity on me to stop and pull over to the side of the road. The rain had stopped by then, and I was rather close to being somewhat dry. I pulled open the passenger door and stepped inside, practically passing out on the seat next to my savior.
"Did your car break down?" My savior, conveniently, was a gorgeous blonde with a killer body.
"Yea, what gave it away?"
She laughed and sped down the road. We covered more ground in that car in ten minutes than I could have done all night. I told her the whole story of the wire, and the gas station, and Rikiya, and we laughed and joked about it all the way back to the flower shop. Her name was Misuni. About halfway up the stairs to my apartment, I realized I hadn't gotten her phone number. Then I realized that I didn't want it, and that bothered me intensely.
By the time I got home, the sun was rising and I was just about ready to fall over and die. I pulled my key out of my jacket pocket and pushed it into the lock which clicked open nicely. I stepped inside to a pitch-dark room, messy with my clothes all over the floor, and inhabited by Ran who was lying on my bed and staring at the ceiling with a pitiful look of utter pain written on his face.
