Look! Aya's in this part! ^_^

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Perfect Day - Part 4

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Breathe some faith into my chest.
Lay me down,
I need the rest.
Ever since the sky turned gray
I've waited for the perfect day.

~Perfect Day~ Roxette

"So now what?"

Ken tipped his head to the side, regarding Yohji through narrowed eyes. There were shadows in Yohji's eyes, and Ken sighed inwardly at the sight. Things would have been a lot easier if he could have just yelled at Yohji for being an ass. Not to mention a whole lot more satisfying.

"Actually, I wanted to talk to you about Omi."

Looking around the room as though he expected to find the younger blonde there, Yohji finally turned back to look at Ken.

"Where is he?"

Ken smiled at the concern he heard in Yohji's voice.

"Aya's...borrowing him for a little while."

"What?" Yohji asked, frowning at Ken's reply. Usually Ken was a bit more...well, at least he made sense most of the time.

Instead of answering right away, Ken walked over to Omi's desk and dragged the computer chair over to the side of the bed. Sitting down, he leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees.

"I asked Aya to keep Omi busy while I came up here to talk to you. He's probably helping with the inventory or something else in the shop."

"But isn't today Omi's day off?"

Ken raised an eyebrow at that. Apparently, the effects of the hang over were starting to fade, if Yohji was able to remember that. Maybe it would make things easier.

"It's Omi." He said, knowing that that was all the explanation he needed.

Sighing, Yohji realize Ken had a point. Omi was like that. He'd give up his day off if anyone asked him to, and sometimes even if they didn't. And he wouldn't expect anything in return...it baffle Yohji, how anyone could be that generous.

"But you know what, Yohji? I think I've changed my mind. There are other things I want to talk to you about. Things that have been bothering me for a while now."

Yohji watched him warily, green eyes narrowed. Ken had that look in his eyes that said he wasn't going to go away until he had some answers. Yohji hated that look. Especially when it was directed at him.

"What's up with you, Yohji? You've been going out more and more lately, and acting like nothing outside of the missions has anything to do with you."

Yohji snorted, tearing his gaze away from Ken's. Running his fingers over the patterns in the blanket, Yohji smiled bitterly to himself. Since when had anything other than the missions involved him? When did the others ever want anything to do with him when killing wasn't involved? When did they ever go to him for advice? When did -

"Why did you go out last night, Yohji?" Ken asked softly.

Yohji shrugged. Why did he ever go out? To forget.

"It looked like you three were going to be busy with whatever it is you do. I...I didn't want to get in the way."

Ken blinked.

"You didn't want to... Yohji, what the hell is that supposed to mean?"

Yohji looked up sharply, green eyes flashing with anger. So Ken was playing stupid, was he? Fine. He could deal with that.

"I don't know, Ken, what do you think it means? It's pretty obvious to me that I'm just an extra body around here. You only need me for the missions, and even then I'm not so sure that's true."

Ken fought the urge to deck Yohji. It would have made him feel better, but somehow he didn't think it would make the right impression on Yohji. Running a hand through his hair, Ken studied at the older man closely. He had to be careful with what he said next, that much was clear.

"Yohji...you're an idiot."

Yohji just stared at him. It wasn't what Ken had said, so much as the way he said it. There had been warmth and affection in his voice...for him.

"Do you honestly think we feel that way about you, Yohji? Do you think we wouldn't notice, or care if you were gone?"

He didn't have an answer for that one.

"Yohji...do you know why we never ask you to do things with us?"

"I have a feeling you're going to tell me." Yohji said dryly, a humorless smirk gracing his lips.

"We never ask you, because you're always busy. You're either out on a date, or out clubbing to get a date. We never thought you'd want to do things with us. You never seemed to want to."

Picking at a loose thread on the blanket covering his legs, Yohji didn't look up.

"You never asked."

Ken winced, hearing the pain in Yohji's voice. Leaning forward, he willed the other man to look at him.

"Yohji, when did you ever give us a chance to? You acted like you didn't need us...what were we supposed to do? What were we supposed to think?"

**********

Glancing down at the clipboard in his hands, Omi couldn't make sense of what exactly it was he was looking at. There were numbers squeezed into the margins, but the rest was an illegible mess. Nothing but lines and unintelligible squiggles. The smiley faces scribbled along the bottom of the page seemed to be mocking him.

Sighing, he rubbed his eyes and wondered why he'd given in to that little voice in his head. Wondered why he hadn't just said 'No,' when Aya had asked him to lend a hand. He'd more than earned his day off, they all knew that. And yet, here he was, standing in the back room of the flower shop unable to make heads or tails of the inventory list.

Heaving another sigh, he walked out into the front of the store, flashing Aya an absent smile as he pulled up a chair at the table. Setting the clipboard down he glared at it, as though it would make Ken's handwriting any more legible. Resting his elbows on the table, he idly flipped through the first few pages of the inventory list.

And as though that wasn't enough, Ken himself had disappeared a while ago, presumably to have his little talk with Yohji.

Groaning, Omi dropped his head into his hands staring blankly at the table. Why did everything have to be so complicated? Couldn't something in his life ever be simple for once? Couldn't he go through just one day without wondering if maybe something was his fault, because he hadn't caught it earlier? Because he hadn't recognized the warning signs?

"Omi?"

Looking up, Omi was surprised to see Aya standing next to him, a worried look in his eyes. And then felt ashamed that he'd been surprised by it. He knew Aya was every bit as human as he was; he was just better at hiding his feelings.

Smiling tentatively, Omi ran a hand through his hair nervously. Aya had that effect on him sometimes, when it felt like he was focusing all of his attention solely on him.

Maybe it was because Aya seemed to be so indifferent most of the time that actually having his full attention could be unnerving. Or maybe it was because you knew that Aya was paying attention to you, and something like that made you realize that he trusted you. That he trusted you enough to care about what you were thinking. What you were feeling. That he trusted you enough to actually care about you, and maybe for you to care about him in return.

"Aya..."

Tilting his head to the side, Aya waited patiently for Omi to organize his thoughts. His eyes narrowed slightly as he saw the same things in Omi's eyes that Ken had earlier. Things that had no business being there. It was just as well that Ken had decided to confront Yohji about things when he had, Aya was tempted to have a word or two with the older man himself.

"It's just...Aya, why does everything have to be so difficult all the time? I don't understand."

Setting the watering can he'd been holding down, Aya shifted his gaze towards the front door as he thought over Omi's question. There were an infinite number of ways to answer that question, but only a few would have made any sense to Omi at the moment. It would have been both condescending and unfair of him to mouth that platitude that parents seemed to hide behind, simply because it made their lives easier: "You'll understand when you're older"

Snorting softly, Aya glanced back down to see that Omi was watching him thoughtfully. Waiting to see what answer Aya would have for him. Waiting to see which answer Aya would choose.

"I don't know."

Omi blinked slowly at his response, a puzzled frown on his face.

One corner of Aya's mouth twitched upwards at the sight, the look in his eyes softening a little.

"That's just how life is, Omi. One obstacle after another. You either get through them...or you don't. It's that simple."

"But..."

But what if you can't, Aya? What if you get stuck? What if something holds you back? What then? What happens then, Aya? What happens when you get left behind?

"That's where your friends come in." Aya said quietly, something in his eyes saying what he couldn't find the words to say.

Omi smiled when he saw it, and he thought maybe he understood a little bit more about Aya, and maybe himself as well.

**********

Yohji stared at Ken in shock.

"Wha... What?"

Shaking his head, Ken reached forward and caught Yohji's face in his hands.

"You acted like the last thing you ever wanted was to be around us when you didn't need to be. We did the only thing we thought we could...we tried to stay away from you. Tried to give you your space. We didn't like it, but we did what we thought you wanted."

"'What you thought I wanted?'" Yohji repeated numbly, pulling free of Ken's hold.

Was that what they'd been doing? Had they all so completely misunderstood each other that badly? Was it even possible?

A look into Ken's eyes, and the regret that filled them was all the answer he needed to know that there was nothing he could say to that. What was there to say? All the pain and bitterness he'd felt was due to a simple, stupid misunderstanding. Who could he blame for it? Should he blame someone for it?

"So now what?" Yohji asked after a long moment, "What do we do now? Do I apologize to you, or do you apologize to me? Or do we both apologize to each other? I'm not familiar with this kind of thing, so you're going to have to coach me on it, Ken."

"I think...maybe we both apologize to Omi." Ken said finally, a rueful smile tugging at his lips.

"I don't...Ken, what are you talking about?"

Sighing, Ken leaned back in his chair, crossing his arms over his chest and giving Yohji a look.

"Yohji, don't tell me you haven't noticed. You can't be that unobservant, even drunk off your ass. Especially drunk off your ass."

It would have been so easy to pretend he had absolutely no idea what Ken was talking about. It would have been so easy...and that was what decided him. That fact that it would have been so easy.

"I don't know how, but he just knows those kinds of things, Ken. It's like we're all wearing signs that say 'Fix Us'. And I...I just don't want him to be the person who has to do that for me. He doesn't need my problems on top of his own. He...he just doesn't need it."

Ken smiled slightly, though it didn't make it to his eyes.

"Maybe he wants to be that person for you, Yohji. Did you ever think of that?"

"But...but why? Why me? Why would he want to do something like that for me?"

"I don't have the answer for that one, Yohji. Maybe you should ask Omi. It's that, or risk another misunderstanding...and I really don't think you want that with him, do you?"

Not with so much at risk. Not this time. Not this time, no.

Watching the play of emotions on Yohji's face, Ken smiled to himself, although it was not without a tinge of regret. They'd all made mistakes in dealing with each other. Had made the wrong assumptions, because they'd been too afraid to look further. They'd been too secure in their roles to want to change things. But watching Yohji, Ken knew that this time things would be different.

Things weren't going to be perfect between the four of them, their personalities were too different for something like that...but Ken doubted there ever was such a thing as perfection. And if there was, it wasn't a place for them. They had their flaws, their faults, and their odd little quirks...but they also had each other to compensate for all of their imperfections.

Maybe this time things will go right. Maybe now...maybe now we can try to be that family we never had.

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A/N: Just one more part to go...^_^;;