There is a reason for everything. This series is planned-- not the
minor details or anything, but there are so other tidbits that lead
into each other.
For those of you who can guess who the redhead is... you get to be
mentioned in my fic. If you got a website, that'll get mentioned too--
and you can post False Identity on it, if you want.
You can find a picture of Ranma/Kitty here:
http://icetemple.tripod.com/kitty01.JPG
(it sucks, but then, it's not finished yet :P)
False Identity
Chapter Nine: Compromises
Li Xiang
The sun beat down on them, drying their damp, nude bodies. The older
boy was on his back, at the edge of the water, his soaking clothing
drying on a rock beside him.
The younger boy lay on his stomach, back bared to the failing light of
the sun, crimson lacerations decorating his skin from head to toe. The
blood splatters from recently pulled scabs decorated his back in
twisting, dappled patterns. His black hair fluttered around his face,
an image of contented stillness.
The younger was purring, the older's fingers knit through his ebon
hair.
The pale haired youth shook his head, removing his hand and standing.
Stretching, Jei glanced at the molten orb setting over the trees. With
a heavy sigh, he ambled over to his still rather wet clothing, casting
a longing look back at the near by river. He and Kitty had spent the
majority of the afternoon either in, or near the water.
Kitty slit an eye open, peering up at the pale form of his 'care
giver'. The other boy had already tugged on his pants, and was
attempting to shake out the water that remained in the cloth.
"We've gotta go back home," the amber eyed eleven year old picked up
the clothing he'd bought for Kitty, "Time to get dressed."
---
Nagi hiked an eyebrow as Schuldich and Farfello only just barely
managed to drag themselves into the kitchen, without falling asleep.
The normally psychotic Irishman didn't even look aware of the knives
on the counter, set out specifically so he could amuse himself. He
almost passed out when he reached the table.
Schuldich was attempting to pour himself some coffee.
"What happened to you two?" Nagi was honestly curious-- he'd seen
those two come back from all-night missions, where they hadn't
bothered to get sleep the day prior, and not look even an eighth as
tired.
"They spent the night running around Tokyo with Saotome," the fifteen
year old turned as Crawford entered the Kitchen, "They took out a
number of Estet's targets for fun."
"Trying to sleep..." came Farfello's growl. He didn't bother to lift
his head form where it rested on the table. Schuldich, now nursing his
coffee, was sprawled on the ground in front of the coffee pot.
Crawford smirked, "I had to drag them both out of bed this morning."
---
Not as far away from Schwartz as they'd like, Omi and Yohji were being
treated to the rather unusual-- even for her-- sight of Ranko sleeping
through burning her hand on the stove filaments. Eyes shut, a light
snore rumbling out of her open mouth, one hand on the still hot
surface of the stove, the other on the counter. Ken stumbled into the
kitchen a moment later, merely to gap in astonishment with the other
two.
Yohji snapped out of it first, and darted to her side to shake the
poor girl awake. Unfortunately, things didn't exactly turn out the way
he thought they would.
Still asleep, Ranko's arm lifted from the stove to slam a fist into
the older man's sternum. He gave a choked gasp, stumbling back, but
the sleeping girl moved no further.
"I wonder what got her so tired."
Omi gave the long haired man an odd look, "What do you mean, Yohji?"
"_You_ weren't there when she tore into Ryouga or Tendou Akane, _then_
_dragged_ me all over Tokyo, because we couldn't find a store selling
Chinese clothing!"
"She was out most of the night," to the shock of the other boys, Aya
trudged into the kitchen, half asleep, wearing nothing more than a
pair of deep red boxers. From more than three feet away, the man
appeared to be of smooth, white marble.
Closer, and it was possible to see the network of pale violet blade
scars, and the stark, circular shape of long healed bullet wounds. It
was something of Aya the rest of Weiss had never seen...
He just barely covered a yawn. Following that, as he passed Ranko, he
smacked her upside the head.
She blinked her eyes open then stared around herself as though she
didn't know where she was. It took a few seconds for her brain to
start, but when it did, recognition washed across her face, "Morning."
"Ah... morning, Ranko," Omi smiled at her, but she merely responded
with a slightly irritated look. She still didn't really want to talk
to him.
"Hey, Ranko?" Ken cocked his head to one side, "What happened to your
neck?" A couple of Band-Aids were stuck between the junction of neck
and shoulder.
"It was bleeding."
"How do you get hurt there...?" Yohji smirked, "Or is it a hickie?"
It was Aya who responded, seeing as all Ranko was content with doing
was giving the tall man a rather vicious death glare. It was the
equivalent of 'I want to you burn in the farthest reaches of hell,
before I dump you in Siberia to freeze to death'.
"It's a bite mark, Yohji. She returned last night with it still
bleeding."
Ranko shot an unreadable look in Aya's direction. He hadn't mentioned
it when she'd returned only a few short hours earlier, and she hadn't
thought he'd noticed it. Shaking her head, she smirked, "Maybe you
should get dressed, Aya."
The other redhead nodded, but only moved to sit at the table, and
nurse a cup of coffee. Rank gave a snort of amusement, before
attempting to riffle through the cupboards.
She fell asleep halfway through the second one.
---
The ever thoughtful Omi had given Ranko and Aya the day off. They
spent a good four hours in Aya's room catching up on their sleep.
After that-- and Aya's failure to death glare Omi into letting them
work, once the boy returned from school at noon-- they finished
cleaning out Ranko's new room. Now, at one in the afternoon, the two
redheads lay in the room, staring at the ceiling.
"I'm bored."
Surprisingly, it was Aya who had announced this. Ranko mumbled an
agreement, but did nothing more. Neither did Aya, for that matter. It
was almost ten minutes later when Ranko rolled over to peer at Aya
from the edge of the bed.
"Any idea of something to do?"
The violet eyed man had his fingers knit behind his head. He'd usually
busy himself with work in the flower shop, or reading-- but he'd made
a vow to watch Ranko. If she was in contact with Schuldich, they had
to be careful. He shook his head 'no', and Ranko slid off the bed
until she was bent at the waist, pressing her forehead against the
floor, "There's nothing to do? At all?"
With no answer, Ranko shoved herself fully off the bed and into a
roll. Her legs smacked Aya across the chest, and he shot her an icy
glare. An unrepentant smirk adorned her features.
"Get off me."
"Hmmm..." Ranko looked thoughtful for a second, as though she was
actually considering it, "... no."
Aya let a smirk cross his face, and Ranko gave him a suspicious look.
She hadn't really seen him smirk before: the normal stoic face, or the
odd smile, or his dark scowl, but never a smirk, "I guess I'll just
have to make you get off."
He shifted, lunging for her sides, remember her ticklishness from the
day prior.
Ranko squirmed, batting at Aya's hands, but he didn't stop. In fact,
he just tried harder; he hadn't had this much fun since Aya-chan was
hospitalized. That sober his thoughts and actions for a second, and he
paused.
In that moment of stillness, Ranko slammed her heel into his stomach.
Aya froze, then his eyes narrowed, "This, he declared, all thoughts of
his younger sister banished to the back of his mind, "means war."
With a quick shove, Aya had Ranko sprawled on her back, on the floor,
and he was pushing himself to his feet. Blue eyes danced as Ranko
grinned up at him, "You mean to take me one?"
She rolled into his legs, knocking him back to the ground, a smirk of
triumph on her face. Bouncing up into a crouch, she lunged, pinning
the dazed male to the ground. Aya hooked his leg around hers yanking
her down on top of him.
She landed sprawled across his chest, but he ignored her position,
instead twisting his wrists out of her loosened grasp, and throwing
her off. The two redheads came to their feet on opposite sides of the
room, hair and clothing mused, panting hard.
Omi chose that moment to throw open the door. In that split second,
Ranko and Aya shared the same thought-- thank god her hadn't arrived a
moment earlier.
"Is everything alright in here?"
Ranko grinned, still breathing hard. Normally, she wouldn't have been
this winded, not through such a short 'work out', but Aya had been
tickling her. Aya just gave Omi an irritated look.
"Everything is fine, Tsukiyono. Peachy keen, and boring."
"It sounded, "Omi stressed the word, "like you two were fighting." An
unlikely possibility, he knew-- Aya seemed to like the other redhead
and Ranko was usually only talking to him. Sometimes she and Ken would
chat, but she avoided Yohji and himself like the plague.
"Oh, we were," the girl was still rather cheerful. Omi could have
sworn Aya had snickered. Aya, in reality, trying rather hard not to
laugh out loud at Omi's face. He took pity on the boy and explained.
"We were bored."
Alright, so it wasn't the greatest of explanations. Omi gave them both
an incredulous look that swiftly darkened to annoyance.
---
Schuldich entered the coffee shop, lured by an unusual sulkiness come
from a familiar mind. Aya was slouched in a chair, facing the door. He
was swirling a spoon in an empty bowl and watching whoever was across
from him. The jade-eyed assassin let his mind brush against the
companion's, and blinked.
Either there were two minds of that unique mixture of animal and human
or that was--
"Bishoujo, and Fujimiya!" Ranma spun to face Schuldich, and Aya
focused a dark glare on the black assassin, "Are you two on a date?"
Aya's glare intensified, and Ranma made a face. Schuldich smirked in
response -- and that got him a spoonful of ice-cream in his face.
Ranma stuck the spoon in her mouth again, grinning in triumph. Aya
rolled his eyes at the display of childishness.
"For your information, Oh Guilty One," Aya had to snicker at Ranma's
overly dramatic tone of voice, "We got kicked out of the Koneko by
Tsukiyono."
Schuldich hiked an eyebrow. He would have just gone through Aya's mind
to find out what was up, but he didn't really want to be on the
receiving end of any of the Forbidden Techniques. Ranma was getting
awfully protective of the swordsman-- almost as much as he was of
Farfello. The feeling came across, even through the confusing melee of
human and feline thought patterns. Schuldich prided himself in
understand them enough to get through Ranma's mind, relatively well.
"We got into a fight," the blue eyed redhead smirked, "and frightened
some of the customers away."
"Why do I find that hard to believe?"
Ranma shrugged, sending the redhead a smug grin. Aya resisted the urge
to repeatedly bang his head against the table. The girl he was
supposed to be protecting from Schwartz was chatting amicably with one
of their most dangerous members.
He was starting to get the feeling that Schwartz wasn't after her to
kill her, as Omi and his contacted believed.
/If I were to kill her, Abyssian, Farfello would kill me./
He started, glowering at the telepathic redhead, before pausing. Ranko
had him in a headlock-- it looked really silly. The taller German held
in place by a petite Japanese girl. Schuldich actually looked like he
was struggling.
"Bishoujo!" he was laughing, but he also looked to be in pain. Aya let
himself enjoy the sight for a few moments. He then turned to the girl,
hiking an eyebrow.
Ranko let go, sinking back into her chair, "For your information,
Schuldich, it was _not_ a 'lover's quarrel'. We were bored."
The jade-eyed man chuckled, shaking his head, "Damn, Kitty, do you
always pick fights when bored?"
"Yes."
Both Aya and Schuldich looked at her in surprise. The fact that she
had answered honestly wasn't it-- she usually spoke her mind, without
lying. It was the lazy smirk, and the fact that she didn't look
disturbed by what she had just announced.
Aya frowned, She'd fight right into Schwartz.
/She's quite the actor, but she wouldn't fit in./
He cast the other man a sharp look, /What...?/
/She is a fighter, not a killer. He will kill./
Ranko frowned, "Are you two talking mentally? I feel left out."
Shucking off the confusion of the Schwartz assassin's statement, Aya
turned his attention back to Ranko, "Let's go."
Ranko hopped to her feet, pushing Schuldich out of the way as she did
so, "Where we goin' Aya?"
The man rose from his own seat, and shrugged. Ranko tapped her finger
against her chin, a thoughtful look crossing her face. This was
disrupted by Schuldich's arm draping across her shoulders.
"I know a place where we can go," he offered, "I won't even mind if
you tag along, Fujimiya."
Aya shot him a glare that was close to the wort the violet eyed man
had ever given Takatori Reiji. Schuldich shrugged it off, steering the
girl out of the coffee shop. The Weiss boy followed, almost sulkily.
---
If it had been one redhead, it probably wouldn't have been noticed.
The fact that there were three of them brought the attention to them.
Schuldich had dragged Ranko with him to where he had originally been
destined, before "running into" her-- one of the parks just on the
edge of Juuban. Aya had trailed after the pair as though he was a
chaperone for their date. He felt just as uncomfortable in this
situation as he would then-- although not because he was topped the
"couple" from making out. He just felt like a third wheel.
This, of course, was quickly and efficiently remedied by Ranko. She'd
shoved Schuldich in the park's man-made lake, grabbed Aya's arm and
ran like a bat out of hell. It didn't take long for the flame haired
man to catch up, what with his speed. He'd retaliated in kind, and
when Aya had attempted to pull Ranko out of the water, shoved the
other man in from behind.
After that, it turned into an all out water fight. They'd team up for
a few moments to shove one or the other into the water, before turning
on each other. The trio of soaking redheads-- with Schuldich's mocking
laughter, Ranko's rather decent impression of Kodachi, and Aya's
whispery low chuckle-- had the attention of ninety nine percent of
everyone gathered within the park.
Not all that far away, watching with amusement clear in her jade eyes,
was another redhead. She leaned against a thick, sturdy tree, with a
wistful smile crossing her features for a second. And then it, just
like the eighteen year old who'd borne it, vanished, as though neither
had ever been. No one had truly noted her presence.
Ranko glanced in that direction, however. She got the fleeting
impression that they'd just missed something important. Then Aya
grabbed her ankle, Knocking her back into the water with a tremendous
splash.
---
Still soaking wet, but now shivering instead of laughing, two of the
three redheads trudged through the district. They were headed back
towards the Koneko, where both currently lived. They were quiet as
they moved-- Ranko reflecting on the fun of the day; something that
was ever so rare back when she'd lived in Nerima.
Aya, on the other hand, was trying to understand how he had _fun_ with
one of his _enemies_. Not to mention how just being around Ranko made
him act like Ran, for the first time in years. The girl confused him.
"Hey, Aya?"
"What?"
Ranko turned to face him, fingers knit behind her head, "You gonna
tell your friends 'bout this afternoon?"
"Will you tell them?"
She blinked, then gave an awkward shrug, "I doubt they'd believe me."
Aya nodded at that-- hell, he'd been the one participating, and he
didn't believe it. He'd gone so far as to review all his thoughts,
leading up to the afternoon, but could find no evidence of tampering.
Schuldich hadn't forced him to do anything, directly. He restrained a
sigh, and tilted his head back to look up at the sky.
"You confused?"
"Yeah," he said no more. He didn't want to explain himself. The way
he'd acted today-- the way _Schuldich_ had acted, for that matter-- it
contradicted his world. Ran could live without Aya-chan, he knew that
now. Schwartz-- or at least Schuldich-- wasn't as bad as he'd
believed. As krititer had lead him to believe.
This, he decided, needed to be thought upon.
---
"Well?"
Schuldich dropped himself into the chair, "You knew I'd run into them,
if I went, didn't you?"
Crawford gave a quiet chuckled, and that was all the answer he needed.
He might not be capable of reading his leader's mind, but he'd learned
to read his actions. He was good at that.
Schuldich closed his eyes with a smirk. Fujimiya, even if he didn't
realize it yet, was beginning to trust him. Quite the interesting
development.
Crawford, too, was smirking. But his reasons were far more different.
---
Aya grit his teeth. Farfello stood outside the Koneko, amber eyes
fixated on the wet redhead beside him. Just who he did not want to
see.
"Jei-sama!" his companion, on the other hand, tore across the
remaining distance in a flying tackle hug. Both men-- Aya and
Farfello-- froze for a second in shock. Flying tackle hugs were far
from commonplace here, not to mention ones aimed at Farfello.
The pale haired young man recovered first, coiling his own arms around
Ranko's waist. He nuzzled her neck before releasing her, "Come play
with me."
"Sure I just gotta--"
"Not tonight," Aya's growl cut through Ranko's mental "fog", and Jei's
lips curled back in a snarl. Aya did not back down from the looks he
was receiving, "You're not going anywhere tonight."
"Who says?" Jei's hands landed possessively on Ranko's shoulders,
"Kitty's mine!"
The violet eyed assassin bit his tongue from lashing out. First,
because they did not need a fight out here, to scare off the
customers. And second, because he knew damn well why Ranko would not
talk to Omi, and cursed Yohji out to anyone who'd listen. Instead, he
stalked up to the other man, "Don't you have a mission tonight,
Schwartz?"
Schuldich had accidentally let it slip that Schwartz had a mission
that night. It was his reason for stopping the water fight in the
first place. Farfello should have known that.
It was Aya's turn to be faced with the look that was quickly being
dubbed the "Creepy Pout" by Ranma, "Kitty will be coming with me,
Weiss."
The girl in question sighed, throwing up her hands, "Jei-sama wants me
to go, Aya doesn't, and Schuldich has socked me to the bone. Decide,
or I beat the ever living shit out of _BOTH_ of you."
They gave her startled looks. Especially Jei-- his Kitty would
actually try to hurt him? What was Weiss doing to him? Aya frowned,
and gave Farfello a dark glare.
"She stays here. I won't send her on any of Weiss' missions, you don't
send her on any of Schwartz. Deal?"
Jei looked like he wanted to object, but an evil little smile crossed
his face, "Deal. _She_ does not do missions, at all. _He_ will work
for Schwartz."
Aya blinked. That was the second time. What did they mean, Ranko
'she', and Ranko 'he'? There was only one Ranko!
Said Ranko was grinning widely. Although she couldn't fight alongside
her Jei-sama, Ranma could. He'd be ready to go in--
She sneezed.
Okay, so he wouldn't be fighting, tonight. She rubbed her nose, and
sneezed again. Ranko turned to pout at Aya. Jei was treated to the
surprising sight of Aya capitulating to Ranko's unspoken wishes. They
disappeared into the shop.
How... interesting.
End
minor details or anything, but there are so other tidbits that lead
into each other.
For those of you who can guess who the redhead is... you get to be
mentioned in my fic. If you got a website, that'll get mentioned too--
and you can post False Identity on it, if you want.
You can find a picture of Ranma/Kitty here:
http://icetemple.tripod.com/kitty01.JPG
(it sucks, but then, it's not finished yet :P)
False Identity
Chapter Nine: Compromises
Li Xiang
The sun beat down on them, drying their damp, nude bodies. The older
boy was on his back, at the edge of the water, his soaking clothing
drying on a rock beside him.
The younger boy lay on his stomach, back bared to the failing light of
the sun, crimson lacerations decorating his skin from head to toe. The
blood splatters from recently pulled scabs decorated his back in
twisting, dappled patterns. His black hair fluttered around his face,
an image of contented stillness.
The younger was purring, the older's fingers knit through his ebon
hair.
The pale haired youth shook his head, removing his hand and standing.
Stretching, Jei glanced at the molten orb setting over the trees. With
a heavy sigh, he ambled over to his still rather wet clothing, casting
a longing look back at the near by river. He and Kitty had spent the
majority of the afternoon either in, or near the water.
Kitty slit an eye open, peering up at the pale form of his 'care
giver'. The other boy had already tugged on his pants, and was
attempting to shake out the water that remained in the cloth.
"We've gotta go back home," the amber eyed eleven year old picked up
the clothing he'd bought for Kitty, "Time to get dressed."
---
Nagi hiked an eyebrow as Schuldich and Farfello only just barely
managed to drag themselves into the kitchen, without falling asleep.
The normally psychotic Irishman didn't even look aware of the knives
on the counter, set out specifically so he could amuse himself. He
almost passed out when he reached the table.
Schuldich was attempting to pour himself some coffee.
"What happened to you two?" Nagi was honestly curious-- he'd seen
those two come back from all-night missions, where they hadn't
bothered to get sleep the day prior, and not look even an eighth as
tired.
"They spent the night running around Tokyo with Saotome," the fifteen
year old turned as Crawford entered the Kitchen, "They took out a
number of Estet's targets for fun."
"Trying to sleep..." came Farfello's growl. He didn't bother to lift
his head form where it rested on the table. Schuldich, now nursing his
coffee, was sprawled on the ground in front of the coffee pot.
Crawford smirked, "I had to drag them both out of bed this morning."
---
Not as far away from Schwartz as they'd like, Omi and Yohji were being
treated to the rather unusual-- even for her-- sight of Ranko sleeping
through burning her hand on the stove filaments. Eyes shut, a light
snore rumbling out of her open mouth, one hand on the still hot
surface of the stove, the other on the counter. Ken stumbled into the
kitchen a moment later, merely to gap in astonishment with the other
two.
Yohji snapped out of it first, and darted to her side to shake the
poor girl awake. Unfortunately, things didn't exactly turn out the way
he thought they would.
Still asleep, Ranko's arm lifted from the stove to slam a fist into
the older man's sternum. He gave a choked gasp, stumbling back, but
the sleeping girl moved no further.
"I wonder what got her so tired."
Omi gave the long haired man an odd look, "What do you mean, Yohji?"
"_You_ weren't there when she tore into Ryouga or Tendou Akane, _then_
_dragged_ me all over Tokyo, because we couldn't find a store selling
Chinese clothing!"
"She was out most of the night," to the shock of the other boys, Aya
trudged into the kitchen, half asleep, wearing nothing more than a
pair of deep red boxers. From more than three feet away, the man
appeared to be of smooth, white marble.
Closer, and it was possible to see the network of pale violet blade
scars, and the stark, circular shape of long healed bullet wounds. It
was something of Aya the rest of Weiss had never seen...
He just barely covered a yawn. Following that, as he passed Ranko, he
smacked her upside the head.
She blinked her eyes open then stared around herself as though she
didn't know where she was. It took a few seconds for her brain to
start, but when it did, recognition washed across her face, "Morning."
"Ah... morning, Ranko," Omi smiled at her, but she merely responded
with a slightly irritated look. She still didn't really want to talk
to him.
"Hey, Ranko?" Ken cocked his head to one side, "What happened to your
neck?" A couple of Band-Aids were stuck between the junction of neck
and shoulder.
"It was bleeding."
"How do you get hurt there...?" Yohji smirked, "Or is it a hickie?"
It was Aya who responded, seeing as all Ranko was content with doing
was giving the tall man a rather vicious death glare. It was the
equivalent of 'I want to you burn in the farthest reaches of hell,
before I dump you in Siberia to freeze to death'.
"It's a bite mark, Yohji. She returned last night with it still
bleeding."
Ranko shot an unreadable look in Aya's direction. He hadn't mentioned
it when she'd returned only a few short hours earlier, and she hadn't
thought he'd noticed it. Shaking her head, she smirked, "Maybe you
should get dressed, Aya."
The other redhead nodded, but only moved to sit at the table, and
nurse a cup of coffee. Rank gave a snort of amusement, before
attempting to riffle through the cupboards.
She fell asleep halfway through the second one.
---
The ever thoughtful Omi had given Ranko and Aya the day off. They
spent a good four hours in Aya's room catching up on their sleep.
After that-- and Aya's failure to death glare Omi into letting them
work, once the boy returned from school at noon-- they finished
cleaning out Ranko's new room. Now, at one in the afternoon, the two
redheads lay in the room, staring at the ceiling.
"I'm bored."
Surprisingly, it was Aya who had announced this. Ranko mumbled an
agreement, but did nothing more. Neither did Aya, for that matter. It
was almost ten minutes later when Ranko rolled over to peer at Aya
from the edge of the bed.
"Any idea of something to do?"
The violet eyed man had his fingers knit behind his head. He'd usually
busy himself with work in the flower shop, or reading-- but he'd made
a vow to watch Ranko. If she was in contact with Schuldich, they had
to be careful. He shook his head 'no', and Ranko slid off the bed
until she was bent at the waist, pressing her forehead against the
floor, "There's nothing to do? At all?"
With no answer, Ranko shoved herself fully off the bed and into a
roll. Her legs smacked Aya across the chest, and he shot her an icy
glare. An unrepentant smirk adorned her features.
"Get off me."
"Hmmm..." Ranko looked thoughtful for a second, as though she was
actually considering it, "... no."
Aya let a smirk cross his face, and Ranko gave him a suspicious look.
She hadn't really seen him smirk before: the normal stoic face, or the
odd smile, or his dark scowl, but never a smirk, "I guess I'll just
have to make you get off."
He shifted, lunging for her sides, remember her ticklishness from the
day prior.
Ranko squirmed, batting at Aya's hands, but he didn't stop. In fact,
he just tried harder; he hadn't had this much fun since Aya-chan was
hospitalized. That sober his thoughts and actions for a second, and he
paused.
In that moment of stillness, Ranko slammed her heel into his stomach.
Aya froze, then his eyes narrowed, "This, he declared, all thoughts of
his younger sister banished to the back of his mind, "means war."
With a quick shove, Aya had Ranko sprawled on her back, on the floor,
and he was pushing himself to his feet. Blue eyes danced as Ranko
grinned up at him, "You mean to take me one?"
She rolled into his legs, knocking him back to the ground, a smirk of
triumph on her face. Bouncing up into a crouch, she lunged, pinning
the dazed male to the ground. Aya hooked his leg around hers yanking
her down on top of him.
She landed sprawled across his chest, but he ignored her position,
instead twisting his wrists out of her loosened grasp, and throwing
her off. The two redheads came to their feet on opposite sides of the
room, hair and clothing mused, panting hard.
Omi chose that moment to throw open the door. In that split second,
Ranko and Aya shared the same thought-- thank god her hadn't arrived a
moment earlier.
"Is everything alright in here?"
Ranko grinned, still breathing hard. Normally, she wouldn't have been
this winded, not through such a short 'work out', but Aya had been
tickling her. Aya just gave Omi an irritated look.
"Everything is fine, Tsukiyono. Peachy keen, and boring."
"It sounded, "Omi stressed the word, "like you two were fighting." An
unlikely possibility, he knew-- Aya seemed to like the other redhead
and Ranko was usually only talking to him. Sometimes she and Ken would
chat, but she avoided Yohji and himself like the plague.
"Oh, we were," the girl was still rather cheerful. Omi could have
sworn Aya had snickered. Aya, in reality, trying rather hard not to
laugh out loud at Omi's face. He took pity on the boy and explained.
"We were bored."
Alright, so it wasn't the greatest of explanations. Omi gave them both
an incredulous look that swiftly darkened to annoyance.
---
Schuldich entered the coffee shop, lured by an unusual sulkiness come
from a familiar mind. Aya was slouched in a chair, facing the door. He
was swirling a spoon in an empty bowl and watching whoever was across
from him. The jade-eyed assassin let his mind brush against the
companion's, and blinked.
Either there were two minds of that unique mixture of animal and human
or that was--
"Bishoujo, and Fujimiya!" Ranma spun to face Schuldich, and Aya
focused a dark glare on the black assassin, "Are you two on a date?"
Aya's glare intensified, and Ranma made a face. Schuldich smirked in
response -- and that got him a spoonful of ice-cream in his face.
Ranma stuck the spoon in her mouth again, grinning in triumph. Aya
rolled his eyes at the display of childishness.
"For your information, Oh Guilty One," Aya had to snicker at Ranma's
overly dramatic tone of voice, "We got kicked out of the Koneko by
Tsukiyono."
Schuldich hiked an eyebrow. He would have just gone through Aya's mind
to find out what was up, but he didn't really want to be on the
receiving end of any of the Forbidden Techniques. Ranma was getting
awfully protective of the swordsman-- almost as much as he was of
Farfello. The feeling came across, even through the confusing melee of
human and feline thought patterns. Schuldich prided himself in
understand them enough to get through Ranma's mind, relatively well.
"We got into a fight," the blue eyed redhead smirked, "and frightened
some of the customers away."
"Why do I find that hard to believe?"
Ranma shrugged, sending the redhead a smug grin. Aya resisted the urge
to repeatedly bang his head against the table. The girl he was
supposed to be protecting from Schwartz was chatting amicably with one
of their most dangerous members.
He was starting to get the feeling that Schwartz wasn't after her to
kill her, as Omi and his contacted believed.
/If I were to kill her, Abyssian, Farfello would kill me./
He started, glowering at the telepathic redhead, before pausing. Ranko
had him in a headlock-- it looked really silly. The taller German held
in place by a petite Japanese girl. Schuldich actually looked like he
was struggling.
"Bishoujo!" he was laughing, but he also looked to be in pain. Aya let
himself enjoy the sight for a few moments. He then turned to the girl,
hiking an eyebrow.
Ranko let go, sinking back into her chair, "For your information,
Schuldich, it was _not_ a 'lover's quarrel'. We were bored."
The jade-eyed man chuckled, shaking his head, "Damn, Kitty, do you
always pick fights when bored?"
"Yes."
Both Aya and Schuldich looked at her in surprise. The fact that she
had answered honestly wasn't it-- she usually spoke her mind, without
lying. It was the lazy smirk, and the fact that she didn't look
disturbed by what she had just announced.
Aya frowned, She'd fight right into Schwartz.
/She's quite the actor, but she wouldn't fit in./
He cast the other man a sharp look, /What...?/
/She is a fighter, not a killer. He will kill./
Ranko frowned, "Are you two talking mentally? I feel left out."
Shucking off the confusion of the Schwartz assassin's statement, Aya
turned his attention back to Ranko, "Let's go."
Ranko hopped to her feet, pushing Schuldich out of the way as she did
so, "Where we goin' Aya?"
The man rose from his own seat, and shrugged. Ranko tapped her finger
against her chin, a thoughtful look crossing her face. This was
disrupted by Schuldich's arm draping across her shoulders.
"I know a place where we can go," he offered, "I won't even mind if
you tag along, Fujimiya."
Aya shot him a glare that was close to the wort the violet eyed man
had ever given Takatori Reiji. Schuldich shrugged it off, steering the
girl out of the coffee shop. The Weiss boy followed, almost sulkily.
---
If it had been one redhead, it probably wouldn't have been noticed.
The fact that there were three of them brought the attention to them.
Schuldich had dragged Ranko with him to where he had originally been
destined, before "running into" her-- one of the parks just on the
edge of Juuban. Aya had trailed after the pair as though he was a
chaperone for their date. He felt just as uncomfortable in this
situation as he would then-- although not because he was topped the
"couple" from making out. He just felt like a third wheel.
This, of course, was quickly and efficiently remedied by Ranko. She'd
shoved Schuldich in the park's man-made lake, grabbed Aya's arm and
ran like a bat out of hell. It didn't take long for the flame haired
man to catch up, what with his speed. He'd retaliated in kind, and
when Aya had attempted to pull Ranko out of the water, shoved the
other man in from behind.
After that, it turned into an all out water fight. They'd team up for
a few moments to shove one or the other into the water, before turning
on each other. The trio of soaking redheads-- with Schuldich's mocking
laughter, Ranko's rather decent impression of Kodachi, and Aya's
whispery low chuckle-- had the attention of ninety nine percent of
everyone gathered within the park.
Not all that far away, watching with amusement clear in her jade eyes,
was another redhead. She leaned against a thick, sturdy tree, with a
wistful smile crossing her features for a second. And then it, just
like the eighteen year old who'd borne it, vanished, as though neither
had ever been. No one had truly noted her presence.
Ranko glanced in that direction, however. She got the fleeting
impression that they'd just missed something important. Then Aya
grabbed her ankle, Knocking her back into the water with a tremendous
splash.
---
Still soaking wet, but now shivering instead of laughing, two of the
three redheads trudged through the district. They were headed back
towards the Koneko, where both currently lived. They were quiet as
they moved-- Ranko reflecting on the fun of the day; something that
was ever so rare back when she'd lived in Nerima.
Aya, on the other hand, was trying to understand how he had _fun_ with
one of his _enemies_. Not to mention how just being around Ranko made
him act like Ran, for the first time in years. The girl confused him.
"Hey, Aya?"
"What?"
Ranko turned to face him, fingers knit behind her head, "You gonna
tell your friends 'bout this afternoon?"
"Will you tell them?"
She blinked, then gave an awkward shrug, "I doubt they'd believe me."
Aya nodded at that-- hell, he'd been the one participating, and he
didn't believe it. He'd gone so far as to review all his thoughts,
leading up to the afternoon, but could find no evidence of tampering.
Schuldich hadn't forced him to do anything, directly. He restrained a
sigh, and tilted his head back to look up at the sky.
"You confused?"
"Yeah," he said no more. He didn't want to explain himself. The way
he'd acted today-- the way _Schuldich_ had acted, for that matter-- it
contradicted his world. Ran could live without Aya-chan, he knew that
now. Schwartz-- or at least Schuldich-- wasn't as bad as he'd
believed. As krititer had lead him to believe.
This, he decided, needed to be thought upon.
---
"Well?"
Schuldich dropped himself into the chair, "You knew I'd run into them,
if I went, didn't you?"
Crawford gave a quiet chuckled, and that was all the answer he needed.
He might not be capable of reading his leader's mind, but he'd learned
to read his actions. He was good at that.
Schuldich closed his eyes with a smirk. Fujimiya, even if he didn't
realize it yet, was beginning to trust him. Quite the interesting
development.
Crawford, too, was smirking. But his reasons were far more different.
---
Aya grit his teeth. Farfello stood outside the Koneko, amber eyes
fixated on the wet redhead beside him. Just who he did not want to
see.
"Jei-sama!" his companion, on the other hand, tore across the
remaining distance in a flying tackle hug. Both men-- Aya and
Farfello-- froze for a second in shock. Flying tackle hugs were far
from commonplace here, not to mention ones aimed at Farfello.
The pale haired young man recovered first, coiling his own arms around
Ranko's waist. He nuzzled her neck before releasing her, "Come play
with me."
"Sure I just gotta--"
"Not tonight," Aya's growl cut through Ranko's mental "fog", and Jei's
lips curled back in a snarl. Aya did not back down from the looks he
was receiving, "You're not going anywhere tonight."
"Who says?" Jei's hands landed possessively on Ranko's shoulders,
"Kitty's mine!"
The violet eyed assassin bit his tongue from lashing out. First,
because they did not need a fight out here, to scare off the
customers. And second, because he knew damn well why Ranko would not
talk to Omi, and cursed Yohji out to anyone who'd listen. Instead, he
stalked up to the other man, "Don't you have a mission tonight,
Schwartz?"
Schuldich had accidentally let it slip that Schwartz had a mission
that night. It was his reason for stopping the water fight in the
first place. Farfello should have known that.
It was Aya's turn to be faced with the look that was quickly being
dubbed the "Creepy Pout" by Ranma, "Kitty will be coming with me,
Weiss."
The girl in question sighed, throwing up her hands, "Jei-sama wants me
to go, Aya doesn't, and Schuldich has socked me to the bone. Decide,
or I beat the ever living shit out of _BOTH_ of you."
They gave her startled looks. Especially Jei-- his Kitty would
actually try to hurt him? What was Weiss doing to him? Aya frowned,
and gave Farfello a dark glare.
"She stays here. I won't send her on any of Weiss' missions, you don't
send her on any of Schwartz. Deal?"
Jei looked like he wanted to object, but an evil little smile crossed
his face, "Deal. _She_ does not do missions, at all. _He_ will work
for Schwartz."
Aya blinked. That was the second time. What did they mean, Ranko
'she', and Ranko 'he'? There was only one Ranko!
Said Ranko was grinning widely. Although she couldn't fight alongside
her Jei-sama, Ranma could. He'd be ready to go in--
She sneezed.
Okay, so he wouldn't be fighting, tonight. She rubbed her nose, and
sneezed again. Ranko turned to pout at Aya. Jei was treated to the
surprising sight of Aya capitulating to Ranko's unspoken wishes. They
disappeared into the shop.
How... interesting.
End