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Hihi everybody!!! This is Umi's first *sticks lone index finger in air* Weiss Kreuz fic!!! (Please be gentle, reviewers...^-^;;) And, if any of the people in this fic go OOC, I give you permission to run away.
I do not own Weiss Kreuz.
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Confusion
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"Kudou!!" Yohji's eyes opened slightly, but then fell shut again as Ken's yells rang in his ear. Luckily the flower shop was totally empty today, the lunch crowd had just left. The floor was littered with knocked over displays and broken pots. Even so, Ken did not have much of a choice where he stared his struggles. The soccer-fan had his friend from behind, careful to hold the blond's hands behind his back tightly. "Yohji!!" Ken growled.
Slowly but surely, the man's eyes opened. He struggled against Ken, surprised to be restrained by his friend. "What's your problem?!" he shouted at the man who held him. Ken scowled as Yohji continued to writhe in his grasp. But then another voice was heard:
"Are you sane?" Omi asked the blond. Yohji looked back at him, taken aback. Omi stood across from the two struggling men, crossbow in hand. He clenched it tightly, awaiting an answer.
"Last time I checked!! Now lemme go!!!" Quickly he slid from Ken's grip and jumped a fair distance from them. Turning back to face them he growled. Omi and Ken stood ready, with a crossbow on their side. "What's with you two?!" he shouted angrilly. Ken snorted.
"What's with us?!" he sneered, "Omi and I come back from our lunch break to find you strangling Aya, and you act like nothing happened!!" Yohji dropped his battle stance, face paleing. He could almost feel his hands starting to shake.
"...Did I?" he questioned, sincerely not remembering what Ken claimed.
"He's alive, but only because we got back when we did!!" If looks could kill, Yohji would have been dead right then and there.
"Stop!!" Omi cried, lowering his crossbow he turned to Yohji. "Yohji, just tell us what happened." Yohji grunted and crossed his arms.
"Aya and I were doing our regular lunch shift. The girls rushed in, right at twelve, on break from school. As usual, none of them bought anything, but they did manage to knock over a few pots of roses. Well, I was out late last night and I was falling asleep at the counter after the girls left, so I slipped off for a nap. The next thing I knew, I woke up in the arms of the prince, over there." Ken grunted at his last comment. "What did you two see?" he asked skepticaly.
Suddenly, a bell on the door tinkled as two schoolgirls entered the flower shop. Omi, panicking, shoved his crossbow in flower arrangement as he ran over to the girls, who were gigggling. "I'm sorry, we're closed right now!!" he sweatdropped as he hastily showed them the door. They looked dissapointed as he slammed the glass door and turned the sign to closed. He sighed as he pulled the crossbow from the roses and carnations. "I just made that one, too..."
"Nice save, Omi." Ken told him as the boy plopped down in a chair behind the counter.
"So, WHAT happened?" Yohji asked, still a bit confused.
"We had been at lunch..." Omi began slowly, remembering the events of earlier. "When Ken and I stepped into the flower shop, a few plants and broken pots were on the floor. We almost started picking them up, but we heard you and Aya struggling. Suddenly, your head popped up from behind the counter..." Omi faded out a bit. Ken took the hint and continued.
"Omi and I didn't know what to think as Aya's head popped up too and the both of you rolled over the counter-top onto the floor in front of us. I jumped on you as soon as I saw the line of blood around Aya's neck and the wire in your hands. I had you with all my strength, and I was getting really panicked as Aya gasped for breath, but I still couldnt get you off. Not to mention the fact that you had a clump of Aya's hair in your fist while you banged his head on the floor...Omi and I did pull you off, but that was after Aya passed out from blood loss and lack of air and we knocked you out with a potted plant."
"Ugh..." Yohji sighed as he put a hand to his forehead. "I knew I didn't have a headache when I went for my nap..."
"Nap?! LIke HELL!!!" Ken shouted at him.
"Look, I don't remember any of what you just said, okay?! I wouldn't do that to Aya purposely!!" He crossed his arms and turned away.
"If it wasn't you, who was it? Your evil twin? A pod person? A bad cosplayer?" Ken growled sarcastically.
"Well it isn't like I kill in my sleep!!" he countered. Omi sighed.
"I'm gonna go check on Aya..." he told the shouting men as he wearily began to climb the stairs in the back of the shop.
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He reached the top of the steps and grasped the doorknob of Aya's door. Contemplating whether or not to knock, he hesitated. Decideing that Aya would be asleep, he opened the door soundlessly and peeked his head inside. He sighed to find the red-head just as he had been left, lying in bed. Omi had remembered trying to clean and bind the neck wound that Yohji had inflicted. Cleaning was no problem, done very carefully, but Omi had not wanted to wrap bandages around the man's neck...
Also, the bandage he had wrapped around his friend's head was still there, and it grew red in the back. Omi gasped. 'I just put that on!!' he grabbed some bandages as he lifted his friend's head up. Sure enough, the pure white bandages were stained with deep red in the back. Quickly, he removed them and replaced them, putting more on than last time and securing them firmly. In the roll over the counter, Aya had landed on the bottom, the back of his head had smacked the ground with his and Yohji's weight behind it. Also, Yohji had grabbed Aya by the hair and burtally smacked the back of his head aginst the floor several times.
Omi then silently got up and left the room, wishing the red-head peacefull sleep, or undisturbed unconciousness. He couldn't decide.
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"How is he?" Yohji asked as Omi collapsed in a chair behind the counter.
"He's asleep..." he answered the blond.
"Yohji..." Ken began, drawing the man's attention, "...you really don't remember anything except taking a nap?" Yohji shook his head.
"That's it...I just don't understand..."
"You could be lying, Yohji," Ken theorized, "...and we would never know. We trust you too much to pull stupid stunts like this!!" Omi nodded in agreement. Sighing, the blond put a hand to his forehead.
"Hey, you may be right Omi..." the boy looked a bit surprised. "...I might not be sane."
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The flower shop remained closed for the rest of the day, due to the shortage of workers and the mess from the struggle. Omi checked on the red-head periodically, but he had not yet awakened. The sky had already grown dark and the moon had risen. The red-head stirred silently in bed as the moonlight shined through his window. With effort, he sat up and put a hand to his head.
'Bandages...' After the roll over the counter and Yohji's slamming his head on the ground, breathing had become more difficult and things were going black, so he couldn't remember anything after that. Supposing that he had been saved, he pushed that thought away as he tried to rmember why Yohji had jumped him. Aya was a bit startled as he heard his door open. He looked over to find Omi's head peeking in.
"Sorry, did I wake you?" Omi asked as he stepped in.
"No..." the red-head responded hoarsely as he laid back down. He put a hand to his head; pain still shot through his head from earlier.
"I'm really glad that Ken and I came back from our lunch break early..." Omi told him. Aya looked up at him.
"It was you?" he asked quietly, throat sore. Omi nodded.
"Ken wrestled Yohji to the ground and I hit him in the head with a potted plant."
"I...thanks."
"Sure. But, do you know why Yohji attacked you?" The man gave a tired "no.". "What happened earlier, if you don't mind my asking...?" Aya closed his eyes, and slowly opened them back up again.
"I remember you and Ken leaving for lunch. The usual crowd of girls came in from school...After they left, Yohji seemed to sneak away while I cleaned up the mess the girls left behind. I was dumping dome dirt and pot shards into the trash when I felt a wire wrap around my neck. Luckily, no one was in the flower shop. Yohji dragged both of us down behind the counter, definately meaning to strangle me..." he stopped for a second, recalling the insanely wild look in Yohji's eyes as he was pinned to the ground. "...The best I could do to get him off me was to roll over the counter. After my head hit the ground, I don't rememeber anything else..." His throat relaxed after he finshed, he almost thought it would cave in if he talked too much.
"We came in just to see you two roll over the counter..." Omi told him. "Anyways, I better go so you can go back to sleep." Aya didn't respond. He only shut his eyes and fell back into a deep slumber.
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Omi carefully closed the door behind him and yawned. What a day it had been. Ken and Yohji had argued non-stop as the three of them tried to clean the flower shop. Ken insisted that Yohji shouldn't be armed because he was dangerous, and Yohji insisted that he didn't rememeber doing it because he had been asleep. The boy had kept his crossbow close the whole time though, in case he needed to break up a fight. In the end, Yohji's wire and Ken's claw had been confiscated by Omi, so they wouldn't kill each other.
He walked down the hallway to his apartment and sighed. 'Why would Yohji do that and then deny it?...Why would he attack Aya in the first place?' He reached his door and grabbed the doorknob. But somthing tickled his ear...the sound of yelling. Worriedly, he listened closer, realizing that Yohji was screaming his name. Quickly he ducked in and got his crossbow before storming Yohji's room.
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"KEN!!!" Omi was horror-struck to see Yohji being forced against his wide-open window by a wild-eyed Ken. Panic striking him, he looked to his crossbow as he heard Yohji desperately fighting the brunette. 'I can't shoot Ken with an arrow...!! What do I...?!' Confused and distressed, he swung his crossbow and hit Ken square in the skull.
Yohji held an expression of utter shock as he watched Ken's eyes roll back in his head and his body slump to the ground. "H-how hard did you hit him?" the blond stuttered. Omi dropped the crossbow, partly from fear and partly from surprise.
"What was going on...?" he asked Yohji.
"Ken was trying to push me out the damn window so he could watch me go splat on the pavement, that's what!!" Yohji bent down and grabbed Ken, restraing him similar to the way Ken grabbed him earlier. "Kid, I'm eternally grateful that you took his claw..."
The boy bent down to pick up his cross bow, eyes still wide. "I just don't understand what's been going on today..." The he got up and turned to Yohji. "Are you alright?" The man nodded.
"What do we do with sleeping beauty, here, until he wakes up? What if he goes nuts again?"
"Don't forget, Yohji," Omi began, "...we were in the same position with you earlier." The older man shrugged.
"So, what'd you do with me?"
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"You tied me up with my own wire?" Yohji wondered aloud, looking down on Ken, who was wrapped tightly in floss-like string. They had laid him on his stomach, hands secured behind his back. Omi shook his head.
"Nah, this is just safety precautions..." the younger explained, "...Ken IS stronger than us, remember...?"
"Yeah, whatever..." Yohji sighed. He had barely finished uttering the words before the boy on the ground before them moaned quietly. His head turned to the side, making eye contact with Omi.
"Ken, can you hear me?" Omi asked the drowsy-looking man.
"Omi...? What the...?!" Fully awake, he realized that he was tied up in Yohji's string. "I knew Yohji would go nuts again!!"
"Really...?" Yohji asked him thoughtfully as he bent down and looked him in the eye. Ken looked a bit startled.
"Actually," Omi began, "...YOU were the one who went nuts..."
"What are you talking about?!" he cried as he wriggled hopelessly in the wire. Yohji sighed, as he bent down to unwrap Ken, deciding he wasn't crazy.
"Well, my friend," he started as he began to cut the strings, "...I believe you stormed into my room and tried to push me out of my own window..." He finished with the wire and pulled the strings away. The man got to his feet and dusted himself off.
"After we finished cleaning up the store, I came up to my room and went to bed..." Ken told the two. Omi looked thoughtful for a second.
"Hmm..." he mumbled, "...each time, the person only remembers from when they last went to sleep and they blank out until they're knocked out again..." he deducted.
"What? You think this will happen again...?" Yohji asked him.
"I'm not sure...We have to be prepared."
"How do you think we should prepare...?" Ken asked him.
"The only way I can think is....to tie both of you up." Their mouthes dropped open.
"Why only us?!" Yohji shouted, annoyed.
"Because you two were the only ones it happend to so far...It seems more likely for it to happen to you again. Besides, it's just for tonight, while you're asleep." Yohji sighed.
"Can't argue with that..." the blond muttered. Ken nodded. He reluctantly tossed a roll of extra wire to Omi.
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"Can you move?"
"No..." they uttered in unison. Ken and Yohji were wrapped in wire, almost totally. Their hands were behind their backs and their shoulders were wrapped. Also, their ankles had been tied together. They were sitting up on the couch in the rec room, totally immobile.
"Geez, Omi..." Yohji muttered bitterly, "...I think you went a bit overboard..."
"Sorry..." he apologized as he brandished his cross-bow. He had plenty of bolts handy, just in case. "Well, good night!" he told them as he turned out a lamp and sat down in a chair.
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"AYA!!" The red-haired man awoke suddenly and sat straight up in bed. Someone was despeately calling his name. He grabbed his katana, out of habit, and quickly got up. He bolted down the stairs, apparently where the noise had come from. A bit dazed from his sudden movements, he put a hand to his forehead and the other hand on the wall for support.
"AYA!! HELP!!" He heard Yohji, in pure panic, scream again. He raced into the rec room where both the blond and Ken were tied up and Omi was firing at the two with his crossbow. His memory flashed, remembering the same wild look in Yohji's eyes when he had been attacked. He unsheathed his sword and charged Omi, dodging the flying arrows and knocking the bow from his hands with the blade of the sword, only to have Omi jump on him. He flung the boy off him, but he charged again.
Aya fumbled for his katana case and quickly slipped the sword back in, just as Omi approached. Doing the only thing he could, he smacked his young friend with the sheathed katana. The boy stumbled and fell to the ground in a heap, unconcious.
"Aya!! God, I didn't think you'd ever hear us!!" Yohji told him nervously, wriggling in the wires.
"What's going on?" the red-head asked hoarsely as he set down his katana and began to untie Ken.
"Earlier tonight," Ken began, "I went crazy just like Yohji did earlier when he attacked you." Aya scowled, remembering that. "I tried to push him out of his window, he claims...Anyhow, Omi was freaked out because the same thing happened twice. We tried to prevent another incident by having Omi tie us up, since it only happened to us. During the night Omi tunred on the light and started shooting at us. Both of us were tied up and couldn't fight back, so instead we screamed for help," he explained as Aya removed the last of the wires from him. Ken then got up and bent over Omi.
"Hey, a little help?" Yohji asked, still tied up. Aya turned to him coldly and narrowed his eyes a bit. "Look, I'm sorry I jumped you today, but I don't even remember what happened! I hope you're not going to hold this against me..." Aya sighed and untied Yohji. The man then bent down and picked up his katana and started out of the room, hand to his head.
"Aya...?"
"I've got a headache...I'm going back to bed..." he answered Ken as he dragged himself back up the stairs.
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The boy's eyes drifted open slowly. "Where...? What happened..?" he asked drowsily, realizing that he had been tied up in wire and laid sideways on the couch.
"Are you sane?" Yohji asked the boy, mimicking what Omi had said to him yesterday.
"Very funny..." he sighed, "...now will you untie me...?" Yohji laughed and did so. "Is it morning already? Did I go nuts? What did I do?"
"Yes, Yes, and nothing too bad..." Ken told him as he entered with a cup of hot chocolate for the boy. Omi sat up and accepted it.
"So, how much do you remember?" Yohji inquired. He looked thoughtful as he blew some steam off the top of his chocolate.
"Well, I tied you two up, and then sat down, turned out the lights and went to sleep."
"Aha!" Ken exclaimed. "There you have it..."
"So, what did I do? Oh!! Are you two alright?!" They both nodded, but Yohji rubbed his shoulder a bit. He bruised it when he fell off the couch dodging an arrow.
"I guess it was a few hours after you turned out he lights that you switched them back on and shot arrows at us..." Omi looked shamefully at his shoes.
"After I tied you two up I went nuts..." The three of them laughed at the irony. They stopped abruptly as Aya stomped down the stairs, katana in hand. He turned and examined the group in the rec room carefully hand on the handle of the sword. After a second of staring back and forth, he set his katana down and went over the the kitchen for some coffee. The three continued laughing after Aya had left the room.
"Let me guess, you woke him up in the middle of the night to come save you, right?" They nodded.
"Actually, he's the one who clubbed you..." Ken informed the boy.
"Oh?" Omi asked. Yohji nodded.
"Katana." He pointed to his palm as he said this.
"It was sheathed, right?" Omi asked nervously, feeling his head for cuts. All he found was a lump. Ken and Yohji laughed.
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He sipped his coffee in silent thought. The laughter from the other room could be heard clearly in the kitchen. Sighing, he looked back down to the neatly folded paper his was reading. He didn't even look up as his three friends walked into the kitchen, laughing and talking. Aya didn't think the matter was somthing to be laughed at, yet he said nothing.
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The red-head stared at himself in the bathroom mirror. He had been fully awake and dressed since he had his coffee, but his still wore bandages around his head. He leaned close to the mirror, examining the thin red line around his neck. Stepping back from the mirror, he could tell it was barely noticeable.
Carefully, he proceeded to unwrap the bandages from his head, seeing the red blood staining the back of them. He gingerly touched the back of his head and it came back a bit wet. The blood had seemed to have stopped, but he wrapped more bandages just in case. He put a hand to his forehead; he had probably been concussed yesterday, and he didn't feel much better after last night's exploits into the rec room. He turned from the mirror and exited the bathroom silently.
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"Do you even realize how many plants were wrecked and how many pots were broken yesterday while you played madman?!" Ken angrily yelled at Yohji.
"What, counting the one you smashed over my head?!" Yohji shouted back. The school girls in the shop thought it was great fun to watch the cute boys fight early in the morning.
"Guys, plaese!! We have work to do!! Ken, re-pot those roses!! Yohji, water these flowers!!" Omi ordered from behind the counter as he made an arrangement for a school girl. "Oh, no!! I'm going to be late at this rate!!" Omi cried. Quickly he finished the arrangemnt and rang the girl up. He pulled off his apron and grabbed his school books and waved to Ken and Yohji. "See you after school!" he called as he ran out of the shop and down the street, followed by his group of fangirls from the flower shop.
Aya emerged from the back of the shop and grabbed his apron off a hook. All of the girls cooed as Aya came out with the bandages wrapped around his head. They swamped him yelling, "Aya are you okay?!" and "Aya what happpened?!" Silently and calmly, he cut a path through them and stepped up bahind the counter.
"What kind of flowers do you want?" he asked a girl at the counter.
"Red roses, please! A dozen!! It's my boyfriend's birthday today!" She smiled cheerfully. Aya put together the bouquet wordlessly. Handing it to her, he asked if she would like a card for it. She nodded and paid him. She waved and ran out of the shop.
The mass of school girls was still in the flower-shop as the clock ticked. "Five...four...three...two..." Ken counted down as every school-girl in the place exclaimed in unison "I'm LATE!!!"
The shop cleared out instantly and the three men sighed. "Hey, Aya..." Yohji began once the silence had set in, "...you can take the day off if you want..." he said, motioning to the bandages on Aya's still throbbing head, feeling sorry for yesterday.
"We'll take your shift!" Ken proclaimed. Aya shook his head.
"I'm fine." Ken sighed.
"Well, if you're going to be that way, then alright. You can still go..." The man shook his head again.
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The day dragged on in the flower shop. The warm sun shone relentlessly through the glass window. It was becoming awfully warm. Almost hot. Aya could practically feel his skin getting sunburned as he stood behind the counter, watching the room swim from his tired eyes. He leaned on said counter heavily; there had been almost no customers today. His hand curled around his forehead and his eyes closed as he listened to Yohji and Ken drag a gigantic pot to the front of the store. The scraping noise was magnifying his headache tenfold, and besides the intense pounding in the florist's head, his throat felt scratchy and sore, still.
"Aya..." he opened his eyes and looked up to find Yohji and Ken stading on the other side of the counter, hanging over him. "...Just go to bed." He complied, shifting his weight off the counter and hanging up his apron, he disappeared in the back of the store.
"Wow..." Ken said quietly.
"He must really be hurting..." Yohji said, sunglasses falling down his nose.
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"Hey!!" Omi called cheerfully as he walked into the flower shop. Ken and Yohji waved back. "What time do we close today?" he asked as he ran to change and put on his apron. Ken glanced to his wrist.
"You've got about five minutes to get ready for the drooling school-girls and about two more hours to deal with them." The boy sighed as he tied the apron behind him.
"By the way," Yohji added, "...Aya's taking today off so you're going to have to pull this shift alone."
"Hey!!" Omi cried after them as the started towards the back of the shop.
"We've been working all day!!" Ken yelled back as he and Yohji disappeared into the back of the shop. Omi sighed as the schoolgirls began collecting.
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Yohji knocked loudly on Aya's door. When he didn't recieve an answer, he called to the red-head: "Aya!! You okay in there?" Yohji shrugged as he swung the door open. He was a bit startled to see Aya totally asleep in bed. "Wow...not a light sleeper..." Yohji mumbled as he shut the door again and walked out. Ken stopped him in the hallway.
"What's up with Aya?"
"Out like a light..."
"I'm glad he finally gave up and went to bed."
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Someone rapped on the door of the flower shop, just as Omi turned the sign to closed. Sighing, he opened the door anyhow. "Manx!" She nodded as she stepped in. "I'll go get everyone else!!" he called back as he hastily hung his apron up and ran to the back of the shop.
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"Aya?" Omi peeked his head into the room cautiosly, not wanting it to be chopped off by a katana. The boy stepped inside the room, seeing Aya asleep. He carefully shook the red-head who stirred and opened his eyes slowly.
"Sorry, Aya, but Manx is here..." he informed the man.
"Whatever..." he said quietly as he climbed out of bed and left the room with Omi.
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The two climbed down to the basement and sat down as Manx popped the tape into the VCR. The tv screen lit up with a dark sillhouette.
The four men listened intently as their next mission was described. Basically, they were to break into a secret facility and kill off a smuggler of illegal aliens who were being used as slaves.
"Everyone in?" Manx asked. They all nodded. She took the tape out of the VCR and tucked it back into her purse. Then she left.
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"Aya!!" You ready to leave?!" Yohji yelled up the stairs. The red-head clomped down the stairs in his heavy black boots, carrying his katana. "I'll take that as a yes." With that, the four of them marched out of the building and started on their way. Tonight, they walked. A car would be too conspicuous and there would be no where to leave it. The facility was not beyond walking distance, anyhow.
After what seemed like an eternity of travel, they came upon the grey concrete buildings. The rooftops looked almost like gigantic steps, the way each was taller that the next, yet they were so close together they touched.
They approached the main building carefully, each slipping in through a different door. "Siberian, do you read?" Omi asked into his headset.
"I'm here, Bombay..." Ken answered.
"Proceed to the main hallway."
"Got it."
"Balinese, Abyssinian," he continued, "...are you to the top of the main building yet?"
"You got it." Yohji whispered into the headset.
"Wait for us there."
"Alright," The blonde answered. "Abyssinian, he whispered to the red-head, "...you okay?" The other assassin had a black gloved hand on his forehead and had his eyes closed like he had a headache. "Aya..?" he asked again when he didn't answer.
"Balinese, change of plan!!" Yohji snapped to attention.
"Eh?!" he asked.
"The target is running right for you!! NO guards. Just take him out, and let's be outta here!!" Omi's voice over the headset excited Yohji as he prepared to kill off the CEO.
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"Got him." Yohji told his friends over his headset as he turned away from the body of the target.
"Balinese, where's Abyssinian?" Yohji paled. Tilting his sunglasses down a bit he looked around him.
'No Aya!!' his mind screamed. He sighed.
"I have no clue!!" he shouted over the radio as he ran down the hallway. "Bombay, Siberian! Head for the roof of building one!" He stopped running in front of a door marked roof. Pulling it open, he ran up the staris. Knowing Aya probably wasn't on the roof, he wanted to try to consolidate a bit since they wre all so far apart. Little did he realize there was a shadow lurking behind him as he stepped onto the top of the building.
Yohji swung around as an evil laugh rang in his ears. It was a nasal German voice, one that the blond had not even been expecting, not by a longshot.
"Shuldich!!" Yohji yelled angrily. The orange-haired man stepped out into the moonlight and just laughed some more.
"What's so funny?" he asked, getting annoyed.
"The fact that you and your friends fell under my control so easily..."
"What the...?!" Yohji snarled.
"Strangling Abyssinian was a little somthing I commanded you to do." The blonde scowled as Ken and Omi raced through the roof doors.
"Pushing people out of windows...playing William Tell in the rec room..." Shuldich laughed. "Minds are so vaunerable while bodies sleep." With that, he laughed again and then jumped off across some more roof tops.
"Coward!!" Ken yelled after him.
"Aya?" Omi asked as he walked over towards a shadowy figure in a coat across the roof. The figure didn't respond. Yohji and Ken turned to see who Omi was speaking to just in time to see a sharp katana jabbed at them. Omi just got out of the way of it.
The red-head stepped out from the shadows, trench coat and katana gleaming in the moonlight. His eyes looked tainted with insanity as he made a diving strike as his comrades, stabbing Ken in the stomach.
"Ken!!" Omi cried as Ken fell and slumped to the gound. "Yohji!! Shuldich was using mind control all this time!! If we can just knock Aya out, Shucldich will lose his control--!!" he was cut short as Aya slashed at him wildly.
"Omi, just shoot at him!!" Yohji yelled as he shot a wire at Aya's sword arm. It wrapped around his wrist and Yohji yanked it, trying to make the katana fall from his grasp. It wasn't happening. Aya merely took his sword with his other hand and sliced the wire off. Yohji was thrown back by his own weight as the string broke.
Panicking, Omi shot an arrow at Aya. It landed in his shoulder, causing blood to run down the front of his coat. The man looked down on it like it was nothing and yanked it out. He tossed it to the ground and charged Omi. A bit stunned by Aya's numb shoulder, he didn't react fast enough to fully dodge the sharp katana. It landed in his side, and he cried out in pain, falling to his knees.
Aya then turned his attention to Yohji, the only one still standing. Yohji scowled at him and Aya didn't react. The red-head was about to charge him when Yohji threw out a wire that coiled itself around Aya's shoulders, several times. He pulled it tight, squeezing Aya's arm, he dropped his blood stained katana on the rooftop.
The blond was pretty peeved with Aya at this point, so he swung the the man around and around in circles on the end of the wire and unwittingly grew rather close to the edge of the roof. The wire suddenly snapped and Yohji fell back.
"Shit!!" he yelled as he landed on the very edge of the roof. The only thing below it was another roof, but that was a plunge Yohji wasn't gonna make. Aya, now minus a katana, jumped and pinned the blonde. The two were wrestling, rolling a bit here and there, Aya at Yohji's throat the whole time.
The blonde suddenly had a flash and remembered hearing about Aya flipping him over the counter of the flower shop. 'Payback time!' he thought to himself as he rolled towrds the edge of the roof and let go of Aya's shoulders, hoping that the drop down to the next roof wasn't life-threatening. The dazed red-head rolled right over the edge. Yohji didn't look down but did hear a loud thump. He assumed that was his friend landing below.
"Oh crap..." he mumbled loking down at Aya lying motionless on the roof below. "Well, I knocked him out..."
"More like killed him..." Yohji turned to find Ken attempting to help Omi across the roof.
"I'm going down there, so you two just hold tight.." he told them as he began to climb down the edge of the roof.
******************************
Finally, the blond reached the roof below. He hurried over to where Aya lay. The way the red-head was lying there, it reminded him of a squished bug. Flat on a hard surface with a puddle of blood around it's body. 'Bad analogy, Yohji...' he told himself as he bent down to do a quick examination.
The blonde was distressed to see blood flowing freely out of the back of Aya's head and from his shoulder, where the dart had hit him. Another disturbing detail that he noticed was how pale the red-head was becoming, not to mention his ragged gasping breaths. Yohji was very relived that he was breathing, though. So, the red-head was hoisted onto his shoulders as he made the difficult climb back up.
When he did reach the top, Ken and Omi were waiting. They all got out the best they could, but it was slow going, with Yohji carrying Aya and Omi and Ken trying to help each other walk.
*******************************
"I'll get the first aid kit!" Yohji volunteered, being the only one able to stand. When he retuned, he had more than enough medical supplies; they were used to getting beat up on missions.
By the time eveyone had been patched up and helped to bed, Yohji didn't have any strength left.
*******************************
He opened Aya's door carefully, a bit ashamed that he had thrown the man off a building. He peeked inside and Aya was still asleep in bed. He and Omi had been watchng Aya carefully and the man had not been awake yet. Ken, on the other hand, had taken a rough blow and was in bed too, also watched by the lesser injured ones.
Omi walked up behind Yohji as he entered the red-head's room. As far as Omi could tell, the fall had cracked quite a few of Aya's ribs (he was estimating four) not to mention the various cuts and bruises he gained. Finally, the wound on the back of his head had opened again.
They had laid him in bed shirtless, beacuse it wouldn't have been fun to pull clothing over cracked ribs. They were wrapped firmly in bandages.
All of these things ran through Yohji's head, making him feel really stupid. 'Bop him over the head? Why not just push him off a rooftop?!' he thought bitterly. He approached the side of the bed, Omi following closely.
"Don't wake him up..." Omi whispered.
"I won't..." Yohji whispered back. He carefully and stealthily reached out to put a vase of red roses on a table next to Aya's bed. The blond had misjudged how hard to put them down and they hit the table with a muffled and dull "thunk." Aya's eyes drifted open, right on cue.
Yohji had to stifle his will to swear as the red-head looked up in confusion. He felt Omi poke him in the back as he began to explain:
"Shuldich took over your mind and made you attack us on the last mission..." Aya looked surprised.
"Was he responsible for the other incidents...?" he asked a bit hoarsely. Omi nodded.
"He was taking over our minds while we were asleep...but can I ask you somthing?" Aya nodded. "How did he take over your mind on the mission if you werent asleep?"
"I don't know...maybe it had to do with my head injury..." he answered slowly. He made a move to sit up, but quickly stopped being struck by pain in several places.
"Cracked ribs..." Yohji told him. The man looked back again, still puzzled.
"How did I crack them?" Yohji felt another poke from Omi.
"Ipushedyouoffaroof." Aya raised an eyebrow.
"Why?"
"You stabbed Ken, you stabbed me, and you were trying to stab Yohji..." Omi clarrified. Aya retuned his gaze to the celling.
"I'm----sorry." Omi smiled.
"We're okay, but we may have to close the flower shop for a few days..." Yohji looked at him. "Lack of capable employees."
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Did it stink? Was it good? Tell me!! Well, don't tell me if you thought it stunk...^^; Which means I probably won't get any reviews!! Um, yay? Well, if anyone got this far, thank you for reading!!
Hihi everybody!!! This is Umi's first *sticks lone index finger in air* Weiss Kreuz fic!!! (Please be gentle, reviewers...^-^;;) And, if any of the people in this fic go OOC, I give you permission to run away.
I do not own Weiss Kreuz.
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Confusion
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"Kudou!!" Yohji's eyes opened slightly, but then fell shut again as Ken's yells rang in his ear. Luckily the flower shop was totally empty today, the lunch crowd had just left. The floor was littered with knocked over displays and broken pots. Even so, Ken did not have much of a choice where he stared his struggles. The soccer-fan had his friend from behind, careful to hold the blond's hands behind his back tightly. "Yohji!!" Ken growled.
Slowly but surely, the man's eyes opened. He struggled against Ken, surprised to be restrained by his friend. "What's your problem?!" he shouted at the man who held him. Ken scowled as Yohji continued to writhe in his grasp. But then another voice was heard:
"Are you sane?" Omi asked the blond. Yohji looked back at him, taken aback. Omi stood across from the two struggling men, crossbow in hand. He clenched it tightly, awaiting an answer.
"Last time I checked!! Now lemme go!!!" Quickly he slid from Ken's grip and jumped a fair distance from them. Turning back to face them he growled. Omi and Ken stood ready, with a crossbow on their side. "What's with you two?!" he shouted angrilly. Ken snorted.
"What's with us?!" he sneered, "Omi and I come back from our lunch break to find you strangling Aya, and you act like nothing happened!!" Yohji dropped his battle stance, face paleing. He could almost feel his hands starting to shake.
"...Did I?" he questioned, sincerely not remembering what Ken claimed.
"He's alive, but only because we got back when we did!!" If looks could kill, Yohji would have been dead right then and there.
"Stop!!" Omi cried, lowering his crossbow he turned to Yohji. "Yohji, just tell us what happened." Yohji grunted and crossed his arms.
"Aya and I were doing our regular lunch shift. The girls rushed in, right at twelve, on break from school. As usual, none of them bought anything, but they did manage to knock over a few pots of roses. Well, I was out late last night and I was falling asleep at the counter after the girls left, so I slipped off for a nap. The next thing I knew, I woke up in the arms of the prince, over there." Ken grunted at his last comment. "What did you two see?" he asked skepticaly.
Suddenly, a bell on the door tinkled as two schoolgirls entered the flower shop. Omi, panicking, shoved his crossbow in flower arrangement as he ran over to the girls, who were gigggling. "I'm sorry, we're closed right now!!" he sweatdropped as he hastily showed them the door. They looked dissapointed as he slammed the glass door and turned the sign to closed. He sighed as he pulled the crossbow from the roses and carnations. "I just made that one, too..."
"Nice save, Omi." Ken told him as the boy plopped down in a chair behind the counter.
"So, WHAT happened?" Yohji asked, still a bit confused.
"We had been at lunch..." Omi began slowly, remembering the events of earlier. "When Ken and I stepped into the flower shop, a few plants and broken pots were on the floor. We almost started picking them up, but we heard you and Aya struggling. Suddenly, your head popped up from behind the counter..." Omi faded out a bit. Ken took the hint and continued.
"Omi and I didn't know what to think as Aya's head popped up too and the both of you rolled over the counter-top onto the floor in front of us. I jumped on you as soon as I saw the line of blood around Aya's neck and the wire in your hands. I had you with all my strength, and I was getting really panicked as Aya gasped for breath, but I still couldnt get you off. Not to mention the fact that you had a clump of Aya's hair in your fist while you banged his head on the floor...Omi and I did pull you off, but that was after Aya passed out from blood loss and lack of air and we knocked you out with a potted plant."
"Ugh..." Yohji sighed as he put a hand to his forehead. "I knew I didn't have a headache when I went for my nap..."
"Nap?! LIke HELL!!!" Ken shouted at him.
"Look, I don't remember any of what you just said, okay?! I wouldn't do that to Aya purposely!!" He crossed his arms and turned away.
"If it wasn't you, who was it? Your evil twin? A pod person? A bad cosplayer?" Ken growled sarcastically.
"Well it isn't like I kill in my sleep!!" he countered. Omi sighed.
"I'm gonna go check on Aya..." he told the shouting men as he wearily began to climb the stairs in the back of the shop.
****************************
He reached the top of the steps and grasped the doorknob of Aya's door. Contemplating whether or not to knock, he hesitated. Decideing that Aya would be asleep, he opened the door soundlessly and peeked his head inside. He sighed to find the red-head just as he had been left, lying in bed. Omi had remembered trying to clean and bind the neck wound that Yohji had inflicted. Cleaning was no problem, done very carefully, but Omi had not wanted to wrap bandages around the man's neck...
Also, the bandage he had wrapped around his friend's head was still there, and it grew red in the back. Omi gasped. 'I just put that on!!' he grabbed some bandages as he lifted his friend's head up. Sure enough, the pure white bandages were stained with deep red in the back. Quickly, he removed them and replaced them, putting more on than last time and securing them firmly. In the roll over the counter, Aya had landed on the bottom, the back of his head had smacked the ground with his and Yohji's weight behind it. Also, Yohji had grabbed Aya by the hair and burtally smacked the back of his head aginst the floor several times.
Omi then silently got up and left the room, wishing the red-head peacefull sleep, or undisturbed unconciousness. He couldn't decide.
*****************************
"How is he?" Yohji asked as Omi collapsed in a chair behind the counter.
"He's asleep..." he answered the blond.
"Yohji..." Ken began, drawing the man's attention, "...you really don't remember anything except taking a nap?" Yohji shook his head.
"That's it...I just don't understand..."
"You could be lying, Yohji," Ken theorized, "...and we would never know. We trust you too much to pull stupid stunts like this!!" Omi nodded in agreement. Sighing, the blond put a hand to his forehead.
"Hey, you may be right Omi..." the boy looked a bit surprised. "...I might not be sane."
*****************************
The flower shop remained closed for the rest of the day, due to the shortage of workers and the mess from the struggle. Omi checked on the red-head periodically, but he had not yet awakened. The sky had already grown dark and the moon had risen. The red-head stirred silently in bed as the moonlight shined through his window. With effort, he sat up and put a hand to his head.
'Bandages...' After the roll over the counter and Yohji's slamming his head on the ground, breathing had become more difficult and things were going black, so he couldn't remember anything after that. Supposing that he had been saved, he pushed that thought away as he tried to rmember why Yohji had jumped him. Aya was a bit startled as he heard his door open. He looked over to find Omi's head peeking in.
"Sorry, did I wake you?" Omi asked as he stepped in.
"No..." the red-head responded hoarsely as he laid back down. He put a hand to his head; pain still shot through his head from earlier.
"I'm really glad that Ken and I came back from our lunch break early..." Omi told him. Aya looked up at him.
"It was you?" he asked quietly, throat sore. Omi nodded.
"Ken wrestled Yohji to the ground and I hit him in the head with a potted plant."
"I...thanks."
"Sure. But, do you know why Yohji attacked you?" The man gave a tired "no.". "What happened earlier, if you don't mind my asking...?" Aya closed his eyes, and slowly opened them back up again.
"I remember you and Ken leaving for lunch. The usual crowd of girls came in from school...After they left, Yohji seemed to sneak away while I cleaned up the mess the girls left behind. I was dumping dome dirt and pot shards into the trash when I felt a wire wrap around my neck. Luckily, no one was in the flower shop. Yohji dragged both of us down behind the counter, definately meaning to strangle me..." he stopped for a second, recalling the insanely wild look in Yohji's eyes as he was pinned to the ground. "...The best I could do to get him off me was to roll over the counter. After my head hit the ground, I don't rememeber anything else..." His throat relaxed after he finshed, he almost thought it would cave in if he talked too much.
"We came in just to see you two roll over the counter..." Omi told him. "Anyways, I better go so you can go back to sleep." Aya didn't respond. He only shut his eyes and fell back into a deep slumber.
******************************
Omi carefully closed the door behind him and yawned. What a day it had been. Ken and Yohji had argued non-stop as the three of them tried to clean the flower shop. Ken insisted that Yohji shouldn't be armed because he was dangerous, and Yohji insisted that he didn't rememeber doing it because he had been asleep. The boy had kept his crossbow close the whole time though, in case he needed to break up a fight. In the end, Yohji's wire and Ken's claw had been confiscated by Omi, so they wouldn't kill each other.
He walked down the hallway to his apartment and sighed. 'Why would Yohji do that and then deny it?...Why would he attack Aya in the first place?' He reached his door and grabbed the doorknob. But somthing tickled his ear...the sound of yelling. Worriedly, he listened closer, realizing that Yohji was screaming his name. Quickly he ducked in and got his crossbow before storming Yohji's room.
*******************************
"KEN!!!" Omi was horror-struck to see Yohji being forced against his wide-open window by a wild-eyed Ken. Panic striking him, he looked to his crossbow as he heard Yohji desperately fighting the brunette. 'I can't shoot Ken with an arrow...!! What do I...?!' Confused and distressed, he swung his crossbow and hit Ken square in the skull.
Yohji held an expression of utter shock as he watched Ken's eyes roll back in his head and his body slump to the ground. "H-how hard did you hit him?" the blond stuttered. Omi dropped the crossbow, partly from fear and partly from surprise.
"What was going on...?" he asked Yohji.
"Ken was trying to push me out the damn window so he could watch me go splat on the pavement, that's what!!" Yohji bent down and grabbed Ken, restraing him similar to the way Ken grabbed him earlier. "Kid, I'm eternally grateful that you took his claw..."
The boy bent down to pick up his cross bow, eyes still wide. "I just don't understand what's been going on today..." The he got up and turned to Yohji. "Are you alright?" The man nodded.
"What do we do with sleeping beauty, here, until he wakes up? What if he goes nuts again?"
"Don't forget, Yohji," Omi began, "...we were in the same position with you earlier." The older man shrugged.
"So, what'd you do with me?"
********************************
"You tied me up with my own wire?" Yohji wondered aloud, looking down on Ken, who was wrapped tightly in floss-like string. They had laid him on his stomach, hands secured behind his back. Omi shook his head.
"Nah, this is just safety precautions..." the younger explained, "...Ken IS stronger than us, remember...?"
"Yeah, whatever..." Yohji sighed. He had barely finished uttering the words before the boy on the ground before them moaned quietly. His head turned to the side, making eye contact with Omi.
"Ken, can you hear me?" Omi asked the drowsy-looking man.
"Omi...? What the...?!" Fully awake, he realized that he was tied up in Yohji's string. "I knew Yohji would go nuts again!!"
"Really...?" Yohji asked him thoughtfully as he bent down and looked him in the eye. Ken looked a bit startled.
"Actually," Omi began, "...YOU were the one who went nuts..."
"What are you talking about?!" he cried as he wriggled hopelessly in the wire. Yohji sighed, as he bent down to unwrap Ken, deciding he wasn't crazy.
"Well, my friend," he started as he began to cut the strings, "...I believe you stormed into my room and tried to push me out of my own window..." He finished with the wire and pulled the strings away. The man got to his feet and dusted himself off.
"After we finished cleaning up the store, I came up to my room and went to bed..." Ken told the two. Omi looked thoughtful for a second.
"Hmm..." he mumbled, "...each time, the person only remembers from when they last went to sleep and they blank out until they're knocked out again..." he deducted.
"What? You think this will happen again...?" Yohji asked him.
"I'm not sure...We have to be prepared."
"How do you think we should prepare...?" Ken asked him.
"The only way I can think is....to tie both of you up." Their mouthes dropped open.
"Why only us?!" Yohji shouted, annoyed.
"Because you two were the only ones it happend to so far...It seems more likely for it to happen to you again. Besides, it's just for tonight, while you're asleep." Yohji sighed.
"Can't argue with that..." the blond muttered. Ken nodded. He reluctantly tossed a roll of extra wire to Omi.
******************************
"Can you move?"
"No..." they uttered in unison. Ken and Yohji were wrapped in wire, almost totally. Their hands were behind their backs and their shoulders were wrapped. Also, their ankles had been tied together. They were sitting up on the couch in the rec room, totally immobile.
"Geez, Omi..." Yohji muttered bitterly, "...I think you went a bit overboard..."
"Sorry..." he apologized as he brandished his cross-bow. He had plenty of bolts handy, just in case. "Well, good night!" he told them as he turned out a lamp and sat down in a chair.
*******************************
"AYA!!" The red-haired man awoke suddenly and sat straight up in bed. Someone was despeately calling his name. He grabbed his katana, out of habit, and quickly got up. He bolted down the stairs, apparently where the noise had come from. A bit dazed from his sudden movements, he put a hand to his forehead and the other hand on the wall for support.
"AYA!! HELP!!" He heard Yohji, in pure panic, scream again. He raced into the rec room where both the blond and Ken were tied up and Omi was firing at the two with his crossbow. His memory flashed, remembering the same wild look in Yohji's eyes when he had been attacked. He unsheathed his sword and charged Omi, dodging the flying arrows and knocking the bow from his hands with the blade of the sword, only to have Omi jump on him. He flung the boy off him, but he charged again.
Aya fumbled for his katana case and quickly slipped the sword back in, just as Omi approached. Doing the only thing he could, he smacked his young friend with the sheathed katana. The boy stumbled and fell to the ground in a heap, unconcious.
"Aya!! God, I didn't think you'd ever hear us!!" Yohji told him nervously, wriggling in the wires.
"What's going on?" the red-head asked hoarsely as he set down his katana and began to untie Ken.
"Earlier tonight," Ken began, "I went crazy just like Yohji did earlier when he attacked you." Aya scowled, remembering that. "I tried to push him out of his window, he claims...Anyhow, Omi was freaked out because the same thing happened twice. We tried to prevent another incident by having Omi tie us up, since it only happened to us. During the night Omi tunred on the light and started shooting at us. Both of us were tied up and couldn't fight back, so instead we screamed for help," he explained as Aya removed the last of the wires from him. Ken then got up and bent over Omi.
"Hey, a little help?" Yohji asked, still tied up. Aya turned to him coldly and narrowed his eyes a bit. "Look, I'm sorry I jumped you today, but I don't even remember what happened! I hope you're not going to hold this against me..." Aya sighed and untied Yohji. The man then bent down and picked up his katana and started out of the room, hand to his head.
"Aya...?"
"I've got a headache...I'm going back to bed..." he answered Ken as he dragged himself back up the stairs.
*******************************
The boy's eyes drifted open slowly. "Where...? What happened..?" he asked drowsily, realizing that he had been tied up in wire and laid sideways on the couch.
"Are you sane?" Yohji asked the boy, mimicking what Omi had said to him yesterday.
"Very funny..." he sighed, "...now will you untie me...?" Yohji laughed and did so. "Is it morning already? Did I go nuts? What did I do?"
"Yes, Yes, and nothing too bad..." Ken told him as he entered with a cup of hot chocolate for the boy. Omi sat up and accepted it.
"So, how much do you remember?" Yohji inquired. He looked thoughtful as he blew some steam off the top of his chocolate.
"Well, I tied you two up, and then sat down, turned out the lights and went to sleep."
"Aha!" Ken exclaimed. "There you have it..."
"So, what did I do? Oh!! Are you two alright?!" They both nodded, but Yohji rubbed his shoulder a bit. He bruised it when he fell off the couch dodging an arrow.
"I guess it was a few hours after you turned out he lights that you switched them back on and shot arrows at us..." Omi looked shamefully at his shoes.
"After I tied you two up I went nuts..." The three of them laughed at the irony. They stopped abruptly as Aya stomped down the stairs, katana in hand. He turned and examined the group in the rec room carefully hand on the handle of the sword. After a second of staring back and forth, he set his katana down and went over the the kitchen for some coffee. The three continued laughing after Aya had left the room.
"Let me guess, you woke him up in the middle of the night to come save you, right?" They nodded.
"Actually, he's the one who clubbed you..." Ken informed the boy.
"Oh?" Omi asked. Yohji nodded.
"Katana." He pointed to his palm as he said this.
"It was sheathed, right?" Omi asked nervously, feeling his head for cuts. All he found was a lump. Ken and Yohji laughed.
********************************
He sipped his coffee in silent thought. The laughter from the other room could be heard clearly in the kitchen. Sighing, he looked back down to the neatly folded paper his was reading. He didn't even look up as his three friends walked into the kitchen, laughing and talking. Aya didn't think the matter was somthing to be laughed at, yet he said nothing.
********************************
The red-head stared at himself in the bathroom mirror. He had been fully awake and dressed since he had his coffee, but his still wore bandages around his head. He leaned close to the mirror, examining the thin red line around his neck. Stepping back from the mirror, he could tell it was barely noticeable.
Carefully, he proceeded to unwrap the bandages from his head, seeing the red blood staining the back of them. He gingerly touched the back of his head and it came back a bit wet. The blood had seemed to have stopped, but he wrapped more bandages just in case. He put a hand to his forehead; he had probably been concussed yesterday, and he didn't feel much better after last night's exploits into the rec room. He turned from the mirror and exited the bathroom silently.
********************************
"Do you even realize how many plants were wrecked and how many pots were broken yesterday while you played madman?!" Ken angrily yelled at Yohji.
"What, counting the one you smashed over my head?!" Yohji shouted back. The school girls in the shop thought it was great fun to watch the cute boys fight early in the morning.
"Guys, plaese!! We have work to do!! Ken, re-pot those roses!! Yohji, water these flowers!!" Omi ordered from behind the counter as he made an arrangement for a school girl. "Oh, no!! I'm going to be late at this rate!!" Omi cried. Quickly he finished the arrangemnt and rang the girl up. He pulled off his apron and grabbed his school books and waved to Ken and Yohji. "See you after school!" he called as he ran out of the shop and down the street, followed by his group of fangirls from the flower shop.
Aya emerged from the back of the shop and grabbed his apron off a hook. All of the girls cooed as Aya came out with the bandages wrapped around his head. They swamped him yelling, "Aya are you okay?!" and "Aya what happpened?!" Silently and calmly, he cut a path through them and stepped up bahind the counter.
"What kind of flowers do you want?" he asked a girl at the counter.
"Red roses, please! A dozen!! It's my boyfriend's birthday today!" She smiled cheerfully. Aya put together the bouquet wordlessly. Handing it to her, he asked if she would like a card for it. She nodded and paid him. She waved and ran out of the shop.
The mass of school girls was still in the flower-shop as the clock ticked. "Five...four...three...two..." Ken counted down as every school-girl in the place exclaimed in unison "I'm LATE!!!"
The shop cleared out instantly and the three men sighed. "Hey, Aya..." Yohji began once the silence had set in, "...you can take the day off if you want..." he said, motioning to the bandages on Aya's still throbbing head, feeling sorry for yesterday.
"We'll take your shift!" Ken proclaimed. Aya shook his head.
"I'm fine." Ken sighed.
"Well, if you're going to be that way, then alright. You can still go..." The man shook his head again.
********************************
The day dragged on in the flower shop. The warm sun shone relentlessly through the glass window. It was becoming awfully warm. Almost hot. Aya could practically feel his skin getting sunburned as he stood behind the counter, watching the room swim from his tired eyes. He leaned on said counter heavily; there had been almost no customers today. His hand curled around his forehead and his eyes closed as he listened to Yohji and Ken drag a gigantic pot to the front of the store. The scraping noise was magnifying his headache tenfold, and besides the intense pounding in the florist's head, his throat felt scratchy and sore, still.
"Aya..." he opened his eyes and looked up to find Yohji and Ken stading on the other side of the counter, hanging over him. "...Just go to bed." He complied, shifting his weight off the counter and hanging up his apron, he disappeared in the back of the store.
"Wow..." Ken said quietly.
"He must really be hurting..." Yohji said, sunglasses falling down his nose.
********************************
"Hey!!" Omi called cheerfully as he walked into the flower shop. Ken and Yohji waved back. "What time do we close today?" he asked as he ran to change and put on his apron. Ken glanced to his wrist.
"You've got about five minutes to get ready for the drooling school-girls and about two more hours to deal with them." The boy sighed as he tied the apron behind him.
"By the way," Yohji added, "...Aya's taking today off so you're going to have to pull this shift alone."
"Hey!!" Omi cried after them as the started towards the back of the shop.
"We've been working all day!!" Ken yelled back as he and Yohji disappeared into the back of the shop. Omi sighed as the schoolgirls began collecting.
********************************
Yohji knocked loudly on Aya's door. When he didn't recieve an answer, he called to the red-head: "Aya!! You okay in there?" Yohji shrugged as he swung the door open. He was a bit startled to see Aya totally asleep in bed. "Wow...not a light sleeper..." Yohji mumbled as he shut the door again and walked out. Ken stopped him in the hallway.
"What's up with Aya?"
"Out like a light..."
"I'm glad he finally gave up and went to bed."
*********************************
Someone rapped on the door of the flower shop, just as Omi turned the sign to closed. Sighing, he opened the door anyhow. "Manx!" She nodded as she stepped in. "I'll go get everyone else!!" he called back as he hastily hung his apron up and ran to the back of the shop.
*********************************
"Aya?" Omi peeked his head into the room cautiosly, not wanting it to be chopped off by a katana. The boy stepped inside the room, seeing Aya asleep. He carefully shook the red-head who stirred and opened his eyes slowly.
"Sorry, Aya, but Manx is here..." he informed the man.
"Whatever..." he said quietly as he climbed out of bed and left the room with Omi.
*********************************
The two climbed down to the basement and sat down as Manx popped the tape into the VCR. The tv screen lit up with a dark sillhouette.
The four men listened intently as their next mission was described. Basically, they were to break into a secret facility and kill off a smuggler of illegal aliens who were being used as slaves.
"Everyone in?" Manx asked. They all nodded. She took the tape out of the VCR and tucked it back into her purse. Then she left.
*********************************
"Aya!!" You ready to leave?!" Yohji yelled up the stairs. The red-head clomped down the stairs in his heavy black boots, carrying his katana. "I'll take that as a yes." With that, the four of them marched out of the building and started on their way. Tonight, they walked. A car would be too conspicuous and there would be no where to leave it. The facility was not beyond walking distance, anyhow.
After what seemed like an eternity of travel, they came upon the grey concrete buildings. The rooftops looked almost like gigantic steps, the way each was taller that the next, yet they were so close together they touched.
They approached the main building carefully, each slipping in through a different door. "Siberian, do you read?" Omi asked into his headset.
"I'm here, Bombay..." Ken answered.
"Proceed to the main hallway."
"Got it."
"Balinese, Abyssinian," he continued, "...are you to the top of the main building yet?"
"You got it." Yohji whispered into the headset.
"Wait for us there."
"Alright," The blonde answered. "Abyssinian, he whispered to the red-head, "...you okay?" The other assassin had a black gloved hand on his forehead and had his eyes closed like he had a headache. "Aya..?" he asked again when he didn't answer.
"Balinese, change of plan!!" Yohji snapped to attention.
"Eh?!" he asked.
"The target is running right for you!! NO guards. Just take him out, and let's be outta here!!" Omi's voice over the headset excited Yohji as he prepared to kill off the CEO.
*****************************
"Got him." Yohji told his friends over his headset as he turned away from the body of the target.
"Balinese, where's Abyssinian?" Yohji paled. Tilting his sunglasses down a bit he looked around him.
'No Aya!!' his mind screamed. He sighed.
"I have no clue!!" he shouted over the radio as he ran down the hallway. "Bombay, Siberian! Head for the roof of building one!" He stopped running in front of a door marked roof. Pulling it open, he ran up the staris. Knowing Aya probably wasn't on the roof, he wanted to try to consolidate a bit since they wre all so far apart. Little did he realize there was a shadow lurking behind him as he stepped onto the top of the building.
Yohji swung around as an evil laugh rang in his ears. It was a nasal German voice, one that the blond had not even been expecting, not by a longshot.
"Shuldich!!" Yohji yelled angrily. The orange-haired man stepped out into the moonlight and just laughed some more.
"What's so funny?" he asked, getting annoyed.
"The fact that you and your friends fell under my control so easily..."
"What the...?!" Yohji snarled.
"Strangling Abyssinian was a little somthing I commanded you to do." The blonde scowled as Ken and Omi raced through the roof doors.
"Pushing people out of windows...playing William Tell in the rec room..." Shuldich laughed. "Minds are so vaunerable while bodies sleep." With that, he laughed again and then jumped off across some more roof tops.
"Coward!!" Ken yelled after him.
"Aya?" Omi asked as he walked over towards a shadowy figure in a coat across the roof. The figure didn't respond. Yohji and Ken turned to see who Omi was speaking to just in time to see a sharp katana jabbed at them. Omi just got out of the way of it.
The red-head stepped out from the shadows, trench coat and katana gleaming in the moonlight. His eyes looked tainted with insanity as he made a diving strike as his comrades, stabbing Ken in the stomach.
"Ken!!" Omi cried as Ken fell and slumped to the gound. "Yohji!! Shuldich was using mind control all this time!! If we can just knock Aya out, Shucldich will lose his control--!!" he was cut short as Aya slashed at him wildly.
"Omi, just shoot at him!!" Yohji yelled as he shot a wire at Aya's sword arm. It wrapped around his wrist and Yohji yanked it, trying to make the katana fall from his grasp. It wasn't happening. Aya merely took his sword with his other hand and sliced the wire off. Yohji was thrown back by his own weight as the string broke.
Panicking, Omi shot an arrow at Aya. It landed in his shoulder, causing blood to run down the front of his coat. The man looked down on it like it was nothing and yanked it out. He tossed it to the ground and charged Omi. A bit stunned by Aya's numb shoulder, he didn't react fast enough to fully dodge the sharp katana. It landed in his side, and he cried out in pain, falling to his knees.
Aya then turned his attention to Yohji, the only one still standing. Yohji scowled at him and Aya didn't react. The red-head was about to charge him when Yohji threw out a wire that coiled itself around Aya's shoulders, several times. He pulled it tight, squeezing Aya's arm, he dropped his blood stained katana on the rooftop.
The blond was pretty peeved with Aya at this point, so he swung the the man around and around in circles on the end of the wire and unwittingly grew rather close to the edge of the roof. The wire suddenly snapped and Yohji fell back.
"Shit!!" he yelled as he landed on the very edge of the roof. The only thing below it was another roof, but that was a plunge Yohji wasn't gonna make. Aya, now minus a katana, jumped and pinned the blonde. The two were wrestling, rolling a bit here and there, Aya at Yohji's throat the whole time.
The blonde suddenly had a flash and remembered hearing about Aya flipping him over the counter of the flower shop. 'Payback time!' he thought to himself as he rolled towrds the edge of the roof and let go of Aya's shoulders, hoping that the drop down to the next roof wasn't life-threatening. The dazed red-head rolled right over the edge. Yohji didn't look down but did hear a loud thump. He assumed that was his friend landing below.
"Oh crap..." he mumbled loking down at Aya lying motionless on the roof below. "Well, I knocked him out..."
"More like killed him..." Yohji turned to find Ken attempting to help Omi across the roof.
"I'm going down there, so you two just hold tight.." he told them as he began to climb down the edge of the roof.
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Finally, the blond reached the roof below. He hurried over to where Aya lay. The way the red-head was lying there, it reminded him of a squished bug. Flat on a hard surface with a puddle of blood around it's body. 'Bad analogy, Yohji...' he told himself as he bent down to do a quick examination.
The blonde was distressed to see blood flowing freely out of the back of Aya's head and from his shoulder, where the dart had hit him. Another disturbing detail that he noticed was how pale the red-head was becoming, not to mention his ragged gasping breaths. Yohji was very relived that he was breathing, though. So, the red-head was hoisted onto his shoulders as he made the difficult climb back up.
When he did reach the top, Ken and Omi were waiting. They all got out the best they could, but it was slow going, with Yohji carrying Aya and Omi and Ken trying to help each other walk.
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"I'll get the first aid kit!" Yohji volunteered, being the only one able to stand. When he retuned, he had more than enough medical supplies; they were used to getting beat up on missions.
By the time eveyone had been patched up and helped to bed, Yohji didn't have any strength left.
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He opened Aya's door carefully, a bit ashamed that he had thrown the man off a building. He peeked inside and Aya was still asleep in bed. He and Omi had been watchng Aya carefully and the man had not been awake yet. Ken, on the other hand, had taken a rough blow and was in bed too, also watched by the lesser injured ones.
Omi walked up behind Yohji as he entered the red-head's room. As far as Omi could tell, the fall had cracked quite a few of Aya's ribs (he was estimating four) not to mention the various cuts and bruises he gained. Finally, the wound on the back of his head had opened again.
They had laid him in bed shirtless, beacuse it wouldn't have been fun to pull clothing over cracked ribs. They were wrapped firmly in bandages.
All of these things ran through Yohji's head, making him feel really stupid. 'Bop him over the head? Why not just push him off a rooftop?!' he thought bitterly. He approached the side of the bed, Omi following closely.
"Don't wake him up..." Omi whispered.
"I won't..." Yohji whispered back. He carefully and stealthily reached out to put a vase of red roses on a table next to Aya's bed. The blond had misjudged how hard to put them down and they hit the table with a muffled and dull "thunk." Aya's eyes drifted open, right on cue.
Yohji had to stifle his will to swear as the red-head looked up in confusion. He felt Omi poke him in the back as he began to explain:
"Shuldich took over your mind and made you attack us on the last mission..." Aya looked surprised.
"Was he responsible for the other incidents...?" he asked a bit hoarsely. Omi nodded.
"He was taking over our minds while we were asleep...but can I ask you somthing?" Aya nodded. "How did he take over your mind on the mission if you werent asleep?"
"I don't know...maybe it had to do with my head injury..." he answered slowly. He made a move to sit up, but quickly stopped being struck by pain in several places.
"Cracked ribs..." Yohji told him. The man looked back again, still puzzled.
"How did I crack them?" Yohji felt another poke from Omi.
"Ipushedyouoffaroof." Aya raised an eyebrow.
"Why?"
"You stabbed Ken, you stabbed me, and you were trying to stab Yohji..." Omi clarrified. Aya retuned his gaze to the celling.
"I'm----sorry." Omi smiled.
"We're okay, but we may have to close the flower shop for a few days..." Yohji looked at him. "Lack of capable employees."
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Did it stink? Was it good? Tell me!! Well, don't tell me if you thought it stunk...^^; Which means I probably won't get any reviews!! Um, yay? Well, if anyone got this far, thank you for reading!!