A Song For The Dead

Finale Part II

"Oi Omi! Omi?" Ken called, looking around the kitchen, then the living room.

He thought he'd had all the bases covered - Omi's room, the mission room, living room, kitchen, the shop, even Yohji and Ran's rooms had been checked, but the little blonde boy was missing from all those spots. Making his way upstairs again, Ken looked distinctly thoughtful.

It was then, as he paused at the top of the stairs, that he heard the water - and noticed the bathroom light was on. Curiously, Ken rapped lightly on the door, opening it while he was at it.

"Omi?" No response. "Omi, is that you?"

"...Ken-kun... I'm trying to have a shower, please leave me alone," the soft voice replied.

"Ah! It is you! Look, Omi, I need to talk to you," Ken said, closing the door behind him, despite Omi's request.

"Ken-kun, not now! Later," Omi insisted, sounding mildly irritated.

Ken, however, took a seat against a wall. "Naw, we can talk now, I'm sure."

Finally poking his very wet head out of the shower, Omi frowned at Ken. "I'm having a shower right now. Meaning I'm naked and in no position to be talking to you! Now if you don't mind, I'd like to continue said shower!"

And the head disappeared again. "I don't mind if you're naked, really, no problem with that," Ken responded.

With a frustrated noise, Omi poked his head out again. "Get out! Get out before I stick you with something very, very sharp!"

"Oi you don't mean that!" Ken grinned. Omi stared blankly at him.

"I'm ignoring you," was his only response as the head once again vanished.

For a few moments, there was nothing but silence. Ken idly watched Omi's silhouette as he washed, and Omi very avidly continued his washing, attempting to ignore the fact that his best friend was sitting in the bathroom while he was showering.

Suddenly, there was a cold gust of air in the shower, and a pair of clothing-clad arms wrapped around Omi's shoulders. Omi yelped, dropping the soap and nearly falling over.

"W-what the hell?! Ken-kun!" the boy exclaimed, horrified beyond belief.

"Well, you were ignoring me. You can't ignore me now. We need to - " Ken broke off as water was sprayed directly into his face.

"KEN! Get the HELL out of here you PERVERT!" Omi's tone rose to a squeaky soprano. He was armed with the shower head, and some rather foamy looking soap, and he was not impressed.

"Yotan..."

"Hm?"

"...What did Kira say to you yesterday?" blue eyes looked imploringly at him.

"Eh?" Yohji blinked back at the shorter boy. "Well... We spoke about how nice the day was, if that's what you mean," the playboy grinned. Rio's look didn't change.

"Tell me the truth, Yohji," Rio said, his tone becoming a little darker, indicating his seriousness. "What did Kira say?"

A warm breeze filtered into the bedroom that Rio currently occupied. Both Yukichi and Kira insisted that he stay in bed, at least for a day, until they could be sure he was alright. Currently, Yohji was the babysitter, since Kira was at work, and Yukichi had to go into the doctor's for a check-up on his leg.

Although still slightly more pale than usual, Rio seemed to be back to normal - at least, that was what Yohji was told. To him, however, the vampire was nothing less than a complete stranger to him. He spoke freely; he laughed and smiled, hummed and sang, and readily answered questions and responded to comments. Aside from that, his hair was long. That was one thing Yohji didn't think he'd ever get over.

"Yohji..." was a warning tone. Wrinkling his nose, Yohji sighed.

"Why does it matter so much?" he asked.

"Because something's wrong, and he's upset, and I love him and damn well want to know why he's been so blue!" Rio pouted, the seriousness of a moment before had completely fled him.

Ken sat sulkily in his room, attempting to dry himself, and his clothes, off. All he'd wanted to do was talk to Omi, but apparently the blonde wasn't quite open to that suggestion. He'd been trying to get a talk with Omi in for a while, but Omi had eluded him, always disappearing to do this that and the next thing. The shower had been his only chance - all he wanted was to talk!

He pondered to himself whether or not he could go without talking to Omi for any long period of time. The repercussions of such an action were that he'd have to confide his troubles in the ever stoic Aya, or attempt to get Yohji serious enough to listen with out being an idiot about it. Neither of those sounded like viable options.

Thinking about Yohji brought up even less tasteful aspects than he had been thinking about previously. Yohji was a vampire, now, and he would be living with them, under their roof, with an insatiable urge for blood. According to Omi's short briefing on their predicament, Yohji would be given a supply of medication that prevented the sun from causing damage for large periods of time, and with Kira's help they were to sort out how to live with him for a short time.

It turned out that Kira, the rather interesting girl they had met what seemed like eons ago, but was actually only a couple nights ago, was actually not a girl at all, but a boy, a vampire, and a scientist working on a cure for supernatural ailments, including vampirism. This, of course, worked in their favor.

Sure, Kira's on-again-off-again boyfriend had turned their co-worker and roommate into a blood thirty killer, but at least they now knew that such creatures existed. And they had a source for a possible cure to come, as well. Heck, the whole vampire bit could be a plus in their line of work. Yohji got stabbed, ouch, pain, heal and he's all better. In fact, it made killing people beneficial to them. Him. Whatever.

Sighing, Ken laid down, an arm under his head, and stared thoughtfully at the wall. He would have been more than pleased to have been able to confide all this in Omi, his best friend, but Omi was far from open to that idea right now. He wasn't sure who to confide all this in, now, as he had no real want to make Yohji uncomfortable, or to talk to someone who would likely spend most of the time looking annoyed.

Yohji was scheduled to return later that day, with the group of people he had been staying with, and with luck they would all get a lovely tutorial about how to take care of a vampire. The very thought of a vampire made Ken's head spin.

"Promise they won't stab me again?"

"I can't exactly guarantee that. You did royally piss Ken-kun off."

"I suppose…" Rio sighed, running a hand through his hair, and taking an extra couple of moments to rejoice over his hair's rather sudden change in lengths.

"Ready to go in?" Omi asked, watching him rather expectantly.

"Ready to possibly be gutted? To face people who tried to burn me alive? Do you think I'm a masochist?"

There was a short pause, as both boys thought that over.

"You know what? Never mind answering that. I really must be."

Omi looked indistinctly amused at him, but turned to lead him down the stairs to the mission room. Already in attendance in the room were Ken, Ran and Yohji, as well as both Kira, and Yukichi. And the groups were rather distinctly separated, with the exception of Yohji.

Rio quietly followed the blonde in front of him, looking a little bit aggravated as he tried to figure out exactly what he would say. All the explaining, of course, would b left to Kira, but he owed them a lot of apologies, and wasn't sure that they would apologize to him in return for their actions. In a way, he'd brought it on himself – after all, he had kidnapped a member of their team… sort of… willingly...

Moving to stand with his boyfriends, Rio fidgeted absently. He noticed every movement in the room, from the shifting of the brunette beside him, to the reflexive defensive movements made by Ken – it was all in his sight, and it all put him on the edge.

Omi took a seat beside Ken, and watched the pair standing in front of them. Yukichi sat to one side, as silent support for the pair who were uncharacteristically nervous about all this.

Taking a deep breath, Rio collected his thoughts, and felt a sudden warmth as Kira's hand wrapped around his. Feeling distinctly more comfortable, he squeezed the hand in return, and looked to the members of Weiss.

"I owe you a few apologies," he stated, ignoring the snort from Ken, and taking another deep breath. "I was upset, which isn't an excuse but… I screwed up. It's not uncommon with me." This time, it was Kira's warning 'Rio…' that he ignored.

"I wanted an escape… I thought that I might find it within your group. I didn't intend to hurt anyone, and further more, I didn't intend to turn anyone, which is why the biggest apology is owed to you, Yohji," he inclined his head slightly, biting his lip.

Yohji waved it off, with a little smile. Looking to Kira, Rio quieted. Kira's expression was somewhat somber for a moment, before it occurred to him that it was his turn, and he looked towards the couch that his audience sat on.

"Look, I'm not gonna sugar-coat this for you guys. You're living with a vampire – nothing is sugary about that. As of yet, our cure is… unstable, at best. While there are little things available, such as a sort of vampiric sun-block, and something to allow vampires to eat normal food-"

"-However, little it satisfied hunger," Rio added quietly.

"-we don't have a way to make your compatriot human again."

There was a short silence, and the boys of Weiss slowly glanced around at each other. "So, what do we feed him in the meantime?" Omi piped up.

Both Ken and Yohji glanced at him, with grim expressions, and Omi immediately wrinkled his nose. "Fine, Yohji-kun, if you think you can live with that."

Kira shook his head a little. "We will keep in contact, and attempt to keep you as… well off as possible, until we can complete the cure."

Yukichi moved from leaning on the wall to join the pair on the floor, before all three ascended the stairs, and disappeared into the night.

"This… is going to be interesting," Omi said with a sigh, and Ken nodded.

"Oi, Yohji, you know this means you'll actually have to avoid those bars and stuff, right? Just in case and all."

Yohji gave them a cheeky grin. "Yes, but it also means I can't work mornings… or days, at all! I'm flower shop free!"

"Sun block, Yohji-kun, sun block."

End

I want to thank you all for reading, and taking part in this story. This is my first multi-chapter story to be completed, and I hope that it will be the first in a long running series of finished stories.

B.A.C.