Chapter Fourteen: Edelweiss



The morning light that filtered into her room splashed over Aya-chan's face making her wake up from the dreams that darkness had offered her. She stayed still for a moment, content to just lay in the blankets' warmth.

There was nothing planned for today...

Nothing to get up for...

She smiled gently and tried to remember what exactly she had done last night...

Her face became a light red color shading her cheeks.

"Aiik... Onii-chan!" She muttered, remembering now that she wasn't alone in her apartment... that four guys lay sleeping in the other room... and would probably be very hungry when they woke up. She threw the covers off of her and let her feet touch the cold floor. She made a noise but kept on walking, until her hand came to the doorknob and she opened it...

And gave a shriek as a red head came flying down to smack the wooden floor near her feet.

"Ran! You scared me!" She hissed, her heart pounding in her chest as violet eyes focused themselves on her along with green cat eyes. Tenshin had given a little miffed miaw before stretching and calmly walking off her brother's chest. Ran stayed where he was... a frown now played on his pale face as he slowly brought a hand up to tenderly touch the back of his own head. "I hope you have a huge headache!" Aya-chan continued, no sympathy reaching her voice as she now struggled not to burst out laughing at the sight of her dear onii-chan flat on his back on the floor... looking like a sprawled rug. "What are you doing out of bed?" She demanded. He said nothing. His eyes never leaving hers, even from his odd angle on the floor, until she tried to step over his body.

"Iya..." He muttered, hand coming up to wave her back into the room. "You're in PJ's."

She blinked and then blushed.

"Baka onii-chan!" And slammed the door on his head. He hissed and sat up in a quick motion.

"Sisters..." He muttered icily, one hand coming up to rub his head. With the other hand he closed the door totally while he stood. He moved towards his three group members and found the couch strangely empty.

"Ohayo Aya-kun." Omi greeted him. "Sleep well?" Aya's eyebrow snapped up. The question seemed innocent enough. Demo... "Breakfast will be ready soon." There was a little pause as Omi went back to stirring whatever he was cooking on the stove. "I don't know where the aspirin is demo..."

"Iya." Aya stated coldly, cutting him off. Omi glanced back at him, smile fading.

"Hai hai." He muttered. The older man took a chair at the table and immediately regretted it. It felt wrong. Omi came a few minutes later. "Coffee?"

"Omi-chan?" Aya-chan asked, blinking as she came into the room. "You can cook?"

"Hai." Omi muttered shortly. He turned away. "I hope you don't mind."

"... why should I?" Aya-chan asked as she blinked again. "It smells good." Aya poured himself coffee and decided to ignore his thoughts and the idle conversation that was going around him. There was a pause that filled with stretched out silence until Omi turned away from the oven, pan in hand.

"The scrambled eggs are ready." He said quietly. She looked at him sharply.

"How's the cheek doing?"

"Fine." She arched an eyebrow in a way that reminded him of Aya. He tried to give a smile but didn't quite make it.

It hurt to tell the truth.

And he didn't know where the aspirin was.

Meh.

He looked away as he served her instead.

At the smell of food, Ken's eyes fluttered open. He rolled over and lay on his back before yawning and getting up. He saw that the last mass on the floor was Yoji and gently nudged the blankety monster on the floor with one foot. It grunted and moved, making Ken think of an odd caterpillar. He gave a chuckle and shook his head before turning to enter to the kitchen.

"Yoji's still alive." Ken muttered as he came in and sat down next Omi.

"Good..." Omi said gently, filling the brunette's plate.

"I can kill him later then." Aya hissed over his cup of coffee. Aya-chan shushed him, a warning in her eyes even though her smile hinted at the humor she found in the situation.

"You really should eat something Ran-chan." Aya-chan started again, picking up the conversation where it had been interrupted by Ken's entrance. "Just having coffee is not healthy." She ignored his glare and tried to fill his plate but he grabbed it away from her and spilled the contents of food it contained in Ken's plate.

"Oy... not too much!" Ken yelped. "I need to stay fit ya know."

"Just eat." Omi gently advised.

The doorbell rang and Aya's eyes sharpened.

"Expecting someone?" He asked. Aya-chan shook her head.

"I'll be right back." She pushed herself from her chair and went to go open the door. In trying to do so, she jumped over Yoji who was quite frankly in the way... he was moaning about something or another, his arms the only human resembling thing appearing out of the covers as he continued to mumble. The doorbell had stopped ringing. She opened the door and gave a little jump as she saw Manx's face. That woman...

She was nice enough...

Just sometimes... she gave Aya-chan chills.

"Manx-san?" She let the older woman come in.

"I assumed right." The woman muttered as she glanced over Yoji's form. "Hiding from me are they... pathetic." She nudged the lump and shook her head. "Where's your brother?" Manx asked turning her attention back to Aya-chan.

"In the kitchen."

She followed the woman into her own kitchen and watched as the three men tensed visibly. Omi's smile suddenly came up full force... and she wondered...

"Hello!" Omi greeted. "Is something wrong?" He asked, looking at her with wide eyes. Manx stayed silent for awhile, observing each of them in turn.

"Bombay... what happened to your cheek?" Omi opened his mouth and closed it as Ken blushed and mumbled the answer instead.

"I punched him."

"It's really not that big of a deal, Manx-san." Omi added. The woman came towards, her heels clicking eerily in the kitchen. With her one hand she grabbed Omi's face with her thumb on one side while the rest of her fingers stayed perched on the other side of his cheek. She made him turn his head from side to side as she observed... looking for any sign of pain in his eyes. Once she let go, Omi shook himself. "I said it was fine." He muttered, ignoring Aya-chan's indignant squawk.

Manx glared at the seventeen year old girl. "Believe me... it takes a lot more to hurt him. Never thought I'd see him with a bruise that came from Ken though..." A smile finally broke on her reddened lips. "So... why are you all here having a party... without me?" Aya made no comment while Ken stilled in his eating.

"...? Party? We almost got killed last night by a bunch of..."

"Female fans... Ken-kun... afraid of girls are we?" Manx purred. The brunette blinked.

"When they're a bunch of lunatics... yes I am!"

Manx smiled.

Ken glared at her for a long moment before shaking his head and just going back to eating, muttering something very vague about all women being lunatics... that Omi was very thankful Aya-chan didn't seem to hear.

"Well," Manx began, "If you can wake that over grown worm out there, I have a message for the four of you."

Aya-chan saw all too well the way her brother's eyes turned to ice. For a moment, there was a hardness in his features that seemed to make him into someone else.

Aya-chan shivered, and Omi glanced at her, raising questioning eyebrows and offering her a sweet little smile--that never reached his eyes.

"I suppose we should head home and meet you there to pick it up," Aya said very pointedly, his eyes locks on Manx, causing her to raise an eyebrow.

"I'm not waking Yoji up!" Ken stated. shaking his fork in the air. "I don't want to deal with his anger right now." Omi shook his head as well.

"Even if I don't mind a bruised cheek... I really don't want to risk my other cheek to Yoji's wrath." Aya simply sat and didn't get up.

Manx raised her eyes to the ceiling and gave an annoyed sounding sigh. "God, for a bunch of assassin's, you are a bunch of fraidy cats."

Ken snorted into his food, still grumbling. "You try dealing with him every morning."

Aya however, was still sending Manx a very dark look, the reference she had made hitting far too close to home in front of his sister.

It was the fact that Aya-chan didn't look the least bit phased that bothered him most.

Manx finally shook her head, not acknowledging the look that Aya was sending her and stomped out of the kitchen and back into the living room to the sleeping creature which was Yoji.

With her thumb and her forefinger she peeled part of the cover that was hiding Yoji's face up. She kneeled down next to him and poked him with her free hand. The man snorted and turned away. She yanked at the blanket and he whipped back into facing her. His eyes snapped open and looked around wildly before they focused onto her face.

"Time to wake up Chicken legs!"

"Manx?" Yoji asked incredulous. "With me? Man... must have been some night last night." He lay back with a contented grin .

"Ajo..." She muttered, letting one hand slap his cheek. She continued to grumble as she got to her feet. "Report to the base in twenty minutes... all of you." With that she walked out of the apartment, shutting the door behind her.