Greetings and welcome to Angst Theatre's performance of "Cold November Rain" the story that apparently has no end!
{looks dismayed, *that* certainly wasn't the plan when this fic was begun, it was only supposed to be an angsty little "prequel" for crying out loud! then he cheers up a little, grabs a multicolored basket filled with polka dotted eggs and assumes yet another secret identity!}
In honor of tomorrow's holiday, allow me to be the Easter Llama and present to you my small offering of angst for tonight as a "Hooray, it's Spring!" gift.
{sets the basket down only long enough to grab Vicious' tuxedo, slips it on and magically, bunny ears ala' Yukito in the delightfully demented Alice in Wonderland episode of CCS appear on his head! he smirks, quite relieved not to be stuck in the Red Queen's outfit like poor Touya was, then lights the marquee, and hands you a playbill with a smile}
Tonight's performance opens with Part 48 wherein the eldest members of Weiss share a difficult night filled with an unexpected focus on the more intimate sides of their lives as well as those of their friends. In Part 49, heartfelt farewells and promises for the future are exchanged when Nagi says good-bye to the men of Weiss before he returns to the Schwarz penthouse, however he certainly isn't prepared for what he finds there.
{smiles darkly thinking of all the lovely angst, then wonders where he left the chocolate bunnies for all the kind readers then remembers he sent them back in favor of chocolate-covered chibi-Omi's and chibi-Nagi's which are *much* more fun, ne? hands the twice-as-sweet-as-usual blue-eyed assassins out while mentioning a fun fact to know and tell!}
By the way, in my desperate attempt to get to the best possible subject matter for your Holiday Gift, I combined a few things and tonight's offerings may only be listed as two WK-llama fic Parts but they're more like the size of three! I checked the amount of memory these take and right now, what you're about to get would've been broken into at least 4 if not more likely 5 Parts if this was a standard GW-llama fic. Wow, don't you feel special?
{beaming smile that falls away since the opening scene is no laughing matter as he bids you in his best "Chairman Kaga announcing a theme ingredient that he doesn't really like such as natto" voice--}
Enjoy the Angst!
~~~Enigma~~~
(who is delighted to be able to get this to you after an amazingly eventful day and evening, but more on those topics later, it's time for some good, old-fashioned bishounen-torture!)
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Title: Cold November Rain [part 48/?]
Book 1 of "Redirecting Destiny" and prequel to "Romantic Resolutions"
Author: Enigma
Series: Weiss Kreuz
Written: January-March, 2002
Rating: R
Pairings: (Yohji + Ken + Aya) (Omi + Nagi) (Brad + Schu)
Category: Dark! Yaoi Angst Action/Adventure Violence Blood Squick Language Romance Original Characters. AU-OOC.
Archive: fanfiction.net [author: "E-sama the Llama"], Scripta Manent: http://digilander.iol.it/sakaba/Home.html
Spoilers: None, safe for new viewers as well as old.
Warnings: dark! yaoi, heavy angst, action/adventure, graphic violence, large quantities of blood, squick: medical and other, coarse language, agonized and overwrought romance, original characters designed to highlight the true stars, rare touches of sap, cigarettes, destiny, cruel cliffhangers. AU-OOC.
Disclaimer: "Weiss Kreuz" is the property of Takehito Koyasu and Project Weiss. All original characters featured herein (including but not limited to: Calico, Norwegian, Korat, Sokoke, etc.) are © Enigma, 2002, and are not to be used without permission. This unauthorized work of fanfiction is intended for entertainment only; kindly do not sue me.
Notes: When Ken falls in battle, how can the other members of Weiss cope with the guilt and blame that they all seem to share and will he survive in spite of the odds against him?
++ date and time reference within the storyline beginning with the day of the battle ++
{{telepathic speech}}
*****
++ day: 5. time: 0115-0400 hours. ++
*****
After roughly five hours of unrestful, drug-induced slumber, Yohji reawakened to find Aya's clearly worried violet gaze alternating between himself and their brunette partner who lay sleeping peacefully in the bed across from him.
Realizing that one of the two men he loved had opened his eyes and was blinking in confusion at him, the scarlet-haired man uncrossed his arms from over his chest, pushed himself away from the wall, and strode over to quietly ask, "How do you feel, Yohji?"
Moving to gingerly run a hand through sleep-mussed blond hair with a tired sense of uncertainty, the wire-wielding assassin answered without enthusiasm, "Not as bad as before, Aya, but still not good, that's for sure." With a groan as jade eyes slid shut again, he explained, "Before I thought my head was going to explode, now I kinda wish it had, there's this damned dull ache right at the base of my skull that just doesn't seem to want to let go."
Concerned amethyst eyes narrowed and long, pale fingers moved to gently caress Yohji's neck far too briefly then slid farther back to probe at the spot indicated only to get a moan of discomfort in response. With a frown of displeasure, Aya commented, "That's not good." Seeing a lack of understanding in his partner's face, he explained, "Norwegian came by after you fell asleep and he said that the pain pills ought to have knocked it out completely if it was just an ordinary headache. He told me that if there was any residual pain he wanted to have a chance to check you out in the morning, okay?"
Yohji tried to display his usual devil-may-care smirk yet failed since it felt too contrived even for him. With a sigh and a nod, he agreed, then turned his head quickly enough that despite the misery it cost him he found distinct pleasure in being able to briefly kiss the pale fingers that had unwittingly lingered against his neck. As the pain from the sudden motion hit him fully and he moaned again, Yohji lay still once more and simply watched for Aya's reaction.
Scowling at his lover and wondering where the man found the energy to flirt when he was obviously in agony, the swordsman hissed softly, "Stop that, Kudou! You'll only make it hurt worse, idiot!"
Jade eyes blinked a little and as Yohji focused on trying to banish the discomfort in his head he succeeded enough so that when he answered it wasn't a total fabrication on his part, saying, "Relax, Aya, it's not so bad now." With a glance at the man in the other bed, he asked with concern, "How's Ken doing? Has he been asleep all this time, too?"
Violet eyes softened as Aya gazed at the handsome, tanned face laying against the brilliant white pillowcase and he shook his head sending earlocks dancing across his chest, "No, he woke up a couple of hours after you crashed. He was worried to see you laying here dead to the world, but I told him what happened and he said that as long as Norwegian was taking care of you, he'd assume everything was going to be okay and he'd try not to worry."
With a soft snort of amazement, the scarlet-haired man added, "How can anyone get through life relying so totally on blind faith all the time the way that Ken does? I mean, he's over there right now, sleeping like a baby thanks to the half-dozen medications they gave him and before he fell back asleep the only other thing he asked me about you was if I'd give you a good-night kiss for him. Honestly, if *that's* all he worries about, no wonder he isn't plagued by nightmares the way the rest of us are despite everything that's happened to him."
To Yohji, however, this classic "Ken-ism" was all the more reassuring and he smiled tiredly as he asked, "So? Where's my kiss, Aya?" His smile twisted slightly as he puckered his lips together comically and seemed earnest in obtaining the show of affection even though he felt certain he already knew the reaction this would garner from his often sullen pale-skinned lover.
Yohji's violet-eyed partner pinned him with a death glare worthy of Heero Yuy, then Aya quietly snarled something unintelligible about his elder lover having lost his mind entirely.
Despite the fact that the other two men in the room were speaking fairly softly, Ken seemed to react to their discussion, and with an unhappy noise he tried fruitlessly to shift the heavily bandaged left arm in his sleep and then he lay quietly once more. Both of his lovers had watched him and felt that lingering taint of guilt they felt regarding events less than five days old since each still continued to blame himself on some level for the massive injuries Ken had suffered in the line of duty.
Then, to Yohji's total shock, Aya's features softened as he turned back from watching the brunette and before the blond even knew what had happened, the scarlet-haired man had indeed bent over him and placed a single, chaste yet loving kiss to his lips. Blinking in amazement and jade eyes wide as a child's viewing Tokyo's prized cherry blossom trees in full bloom for the first time, Yohji simply gazed up at the man who remained poised above him for a moment.
Satisfied that he had kept the promise he'd made to Ken which he had almost neglected to honor since he was so preoccupied by his elder partner's severe headache, Aya allowed his hands to remain where they had come to rest on opposite sides of Yohji's face on the pillow. With a smile of satisfaction for having surprised the elder of his two lovers, he quietly asked, "Want to go back to the hotel now, Yohji?" Seeing an expression of confusion on the other man's face, he straightened once more and explained, "It's after one in the morning. I'm sure that Omi and Nagi won't mind if we come back now and I for one could use some sleep."
"Oh. Um, right," the lanky man agreed slowly, barely able to process this new information since he was still in a mild state of shock from the very unexpected kiss. "Sleeping would probably be a good idea, Aya. It might get rid of the rest of this damned headache."
"That too," the swordsman answered as if there was an unmentioned something that he needed to be rid of himself. But Aya wouldn't have admitted to anyone not even himself that in that moment, as he had gazed down at his attractive partner, he couldn't help but wish that they, too, had been able to have the romantic evening alone that he incorrectly assumed the youngest two assassins had enjoyed. The fact that that wish had manifested itself in an unwanted physical response was something he knew from experience he could ignore if he tried, so that's what he automatically did without hesitation or regret.
Not aware of the other man's distraction, Yohji carefully moved to sit up on the bed, fought a wave of vertigo as his body coped with the unfamiliar sensations caused by the powerful painkillers Norwegian had prescribed for him, then swung his legs off the edge of the bed. He sat there briefly, then the two eldest members of Weiss pulled together the things they needed so they could leave which included Aya surreptitiously palming the rest of the bottle of pain pills and placing them in his pocket.
Once Yohji had gently brushed a kiss to the sleeping teen's lips and whispered quiet words of adoration, something that brought a hidden smile of satisfaction to Aya's face, they departed.
On their way out of the building, they stopped to see Javanese and spoke briefly with her about Korat's departure and whether or not she knew who would be replacing the ebony-skinned nurse for the noon-to-midnight shift. As it turned out, the dark-haired woman didn't know since Norwegian had still been in the process of arranging certain security issues but she assured them it would be fine, after all, Ken was already doing so much better.
After bidding her a good evening, the pair of deadly assassins ghosted from Tokyo General Hospital into a night that dripped slowly with a seemingly endless, bone-chilling drizzle.
Their footsteps carried them past the curry shop their blue-eyed friends had eaten at and Yohji muttered something about being hungry despite not being terribly enthusiastic about the idea. Aya would've denied his own need for food, but his body announced noisily that it wanted to be fed and since the small restaurant wasn't closed yet to allow the late-shift doctors and nurses to get virtually home-cooked food, they stopped briefly and filled themselves with a hearty meal. Conversation between them was minimal and if the proprietress had been asked later if they had any connection to the handsome youths who had dined there earlier, she probably would've said "no" with a great deal of confidence.
By the time the meal was over and the last of the rice had been enjoyed with cups of fragrant jasmine-scented tea, the lanky blond man was yawning slightly and even the scarlet-haired one looked fatigued as well. They paid their bill and thanked the owner for her kindness then made their way tiredly to the Hilton.
Luckily, there were no annoying bell captains in the lobby at two-thirty in the morning to deter them from arriving at their suite quickly and efficiently. As the younger of the two pulled out a key card for the door, he cautioned unnecessarily, "Try not to make a lot of noise when we get inside. If they're not asleep yet, I'd rather they not be distracted by the fact that we're back."
Glancing at the watch that concealed his lethal wire with a small frown, Yohji remarked, "I'd certainly *hope* those two are asleep by now!" An image flashed through his mind of the first time he'd walked in on the young lovers, naked bodies lightly sheened with sweat and physically united, enjoying one another to the fullest in a warehouse in Roppongi. Even as he attempted to quell the understandable physical reaction such an intrinsically erotic memory held, he added belatedly, "After all, if Nagi wants to get back to those creeps he lives with in the morning, he'll need some sleep tonight."
"That's true," Aya growled through angrily clenched teeth, then slipped the key card into the slot and immediately received the green light indicating the door was unlocked.
As the door was opened, the thrilling strains of one of Yoko Kanno's magnificent aerial battle soundtracks began to fill the room as Spike and Jet faced off against an unknown foe and warned both of the new arrivals that it was possible their friends had waited up for them. However, as they looked past the doorway it was all too easy to find the pair, huddled together like children who had tried to stay up for Santa and failed, deeply asleep on the couch beneath a blanket that failed to grant them enough warmth.
Clucking his tongue in dissatisfaction, Yohji muttered softly, "Well, I'll be damned. What are they doing out *here*?"
Shockingly, it was Aya who added the more important question, "And what are they doing still fully clothed?" He snorted in annoyance and missed his partner's stunned expression as he added, "This was probably their last night together for some time. Why'd they pass up a chance to be together completely?"
Speechless in the face of the other man's utterly uncharacteristic and seemingly random hentai comment, Yohji simply stood where he was, motionless and wearing a fairly blank look on his face for a moment too long.
Ignoring the man he'd arrived with, Aya stepped into the room and approached the two teens stopping in front of them on the couch and reaching out to gently shake his youngest teammate's shoulder, asking, "Omi? Can you wake up a little?" Getting only a sliver of unaware cerulean peeking back at him, he added more firmly, "You need to go to bed, Omi."
The younger blond blinked kittenishly at his friends and snapped Yohji out of his temporary immobility with a small yawn that made the seventeen year old look younger than he was.
Striding over to join his own lover, the elder blond asked in a warm, soothing tone as he hoped to keep both teens half-asleep if possible, "Omiitchi? Would it be okay if Aya and me helped you and Nagi get to bed, bishounen? It's been a long day."
Omi blinked even more, realized he still held his true love loosely in his arms yet couldn't quite imagine that he had the energy to carry him to bed, nodded and around a much larger yawn accepted the offer saying, "Please?" Scratching at his head in sleepy confusion, the younger blond added unhappily, "I'm more tired than I thought."
"That's understandable," Yohji reassured with the same warm smile, then moved to begin disentangling the two boys.
Meanwhile, the Weiss swordsman had duly noted that Nagi was wearing the outfit he'd selected from the back of Omi's closet and again there was no self-congratulations for his wisdom instead there was only a deep sadness at the teenaged lovers' missed opportunity. By no means the raging hentai that Yohji could be at times, Aya had at least come to appreciate the value of and the need for the intimate conversation of the body that two--or three as it was in his own case--people who truly loved one another could share. He correctly assumed it would be quite awhile before the two young lovers could be together again intimately and he would've preferred to have found Nagi's borrowed clothes in a heap on the floor mixed with Omi's own apparel and depicting the haste of those lost in passion.
Disregarding his thoughts easily, though, the violet-eyed man moved to gently lift the sleeping telekinetic into his arms and after getting a thankful smile from his youngest teammate, he carried Nagi to bed, something he was becoming rather accomplished at by this point. The petite Schwarz psychic instinctively nestled himself against Aya's strong chest and remained lost in peaceful dreams made more calm by the added warmth and familiar reassuring scent of the katana-wielding Weiss assassin.
Wearing a soft expression of love and wonder of his own, Omi rose and padded along behind Aya and Yohji was left to gather up the blanket, shut off the television, and then turn off the lights as they made their way back to the bedrooms.
After allowing Omi to pull back the covers and climb into bed first, Aya moved to settle the small teen in his arms back where he belonged, cuddled close to the person who cared for him more than any other on the face of the Earth.
With a gentle smile of gratitude, the Weiss archer watched as his jade-eyed friend moved to tuck them both in warmly and even go so far as to pluck an additional blanket from the nearby closet since it felt cool and damp even inside the posh hotel.
After mouthing his thanks silently and receiving equally silent yet not wordless wishes for sweet dreams from his eldest two teammates, Omi tucked Nagi close to him and allowed himself to begin to drift off to sleep again, not caring that they were still fully dressed. With his arms wrapped around the boy he adored, the cerulean-eyed teen's heart filled with a contented sensation of loving and being loved in return that allowed him, too, to find his way past the gates of nightmares and into pleasant dreams instead.
With a final smile, Yohji followed Aya from the room and after closing the boys' door quietly they retired to their own bedroom.
Chilled by the lingering misty rain, the two men immediately stripped out of their damp street clothes almost as soon as the door was closed. Each automatically noted the other's physique as they undressed in the surreptitious visual scan that those accustomed to long hours of undercover intelligence gathering could achieve effortlessly without being questioned about their intentions.
In the past in the large bedroom the Weiss trio shared above the Koneko, such stolen glances were often a means to assess the interference that recent minor injuries might cause in their intimate play or even to determine who was interested in that activity in the first place. The romantic triumvirate had never limited themselves to certain groupings, thereby allowing whoever was healthy and in the mood to express themselves sexually with whoever else wanted to participate and these observations usually allowed those determinations to be made wordlessly.
Sadly, the current situation was entirely different.
Even as Aya automatically and appreciatively noted the lines, planes, and angles of his blond lover's effortlessly seductive body, he also took in the mysterious tattoo that graced Yohji's left shoulder and its words caused him to halt mid-thought. Barely able to derail the sensual train of thought that followed taking such a close look at a body that he longed to feel pressed against his own, the words "When you gonna learn?" seemed to taunt him, as if the marking itself had gained intelligence and was angry with him. [1] Unsure what to make of the strange twist his mind had insisted upon making, he looked away and focused on pulling back the covers of their large, Western-style bed.
Yohji was also lost in thought but had been on an entirely different mental wavelength than his partner was. Jade eyes had been sorrowfully examining the many scars that decorated Aya's finely sculpted body. As always, it hurt him that there were some permanent marks there that predated the swordsman's time with Weiss and he wordlessly cursed his lover's prior team as fools to have been so careless with one so precious. [2] With that thought in mind, the wire-wielding assassin silently renewed his own oath to protect and defend both of those whom he called lover with greater vigilance in the future.
"How's your headache?" Aya's voice suddenly interrupted his partner's thoughts even as both boxer-clad men moved to stretch out on the cool yet surprisingly comfortable cotton sheets that had so patiently awaited their use.
Shrugging slightly before dropping his sunglasses and hairtie onto a nightstand, Yohji lied easily hoping to spare his scarlet-haired lover any further distress, "It's fine, Aya. Nothing to worry about." He rolled onto his side and gazed at the length of pale skin displayed before him as Aya reached up to turn off a lamp but not before the shorter man could hide the expression of unhappiness in his amethyst eyes. Barely suppressing a desire to reach out and draw the younger man to him, he added softly, "What's on your mind, baby? You seem concerned about something."
Ordinarily Aya would have avoided the open discussion of the potentially sensitive subject that was suddenly bothering him until after he'd given it a few days of thought. But considering the natural reactions of their nearly nude bodies to each other's close proximity, he felt it couldn't be avoided if he wished to suggest what he felt was only right. Clearing his throat nervously, something that he almost never did, the Weiss swordsman said quietly, "I've been thinking about Ken, Yohji, and, um, well, to put it simply, sex."
Not shocked by the topic yet uncertain what his partner was getting at, Yohji shrugged in the darkness and lay quietly on his own side of the bed where he could regard the barely visible figure less than an arm's length away and asked, "What about Ken and sex, Aya? He won't be in any shape for anything like that for months, most likely."
The former detective frowned slightly since he hadn't even considered this aspect of the situation and was saddened by the chilling realization that if things had turned out differently, they wouldn't even have been able to have this discussion in the first place. As it was, however, if they had as much faith in Norwegian as Ken himself did, then it was simply a matter of time before they could be reunited in every sense of the word which made Aya's initial remark all the more curious.
Their younger partner was a very down-to-earth albeit enticingly sensual person yet if Ken was told to abstain from intimate relations he could do so far more easily than one might have suspected. However, for the eldest member of Weiss, a man for whom sex had provided his fundamental self-definition for too long prior to realizing that he was loved in return by his brunette teammate, sexuality remained an important focus that he had difficulty ignoring. Aware of both these facts, the scarlet-haired man hesitated before proposing a demanding agreement that he wondered if Yohji could even comply with if he wanted to.
Impatience caused by the now painful throbbing ache at the base of his skull that not even a well-cooked meal could assuage convinced the elder of the two to urge gently, "Go on, what did you want to say, baby?" In a more tender tone he added softly, "No matter what it is, Aya-love, I'll listen. Please? Tell me?"
The private terms of endearment always helped to remind the violet-eyed man that Yohji was entirely sincere at times like this. With that encouragement in mind, Aya finally put forth what he considered to be an almost impossible suggestion by saying cautiously, "I was thinking that we ought to consider agreeing to wait on having sex again until Ken can join us fully, Yohji." Gaining confidence, he hurried to include, "It just seems wrong to enjoy ourselves while he's in that hospital bed suffering. But once we're back home at the Koneko, it won't be much better as long as he's in those bandages and cast. It seems only fair to refrain from sex entirely until he's given a clean bill of health by Norwegian, but there's no way to know how long that might take and I'm not--"
The atypical flood of words from the swordsman was stopped by the sudden, gentle placement of fingertips onto his lips and the man beside him urged quietly, "I see what you mean, baby." Yohji removed the callused flesh and replaced it with lips far more tender for a brief kiss, then he sighed and lay back onto his own pillow, saying, "Now that you mention it, I have to agree with you. We almost lost Ken this time. We're damned lucky to even be *having* this discussion and to be able to plan on regaining a life together for all three of us is nothing short of a miracle. So, yeah, that sounds like a good idea. Abstinence is the least we can commit to for him."
Violet eyes glimmered back at him uncertainly in the dark.
It wasn't that Aya didn't believe that Yohji was capable of such a depth of feeling, far from it, he simply wasn't sure the older assassin could maintain such a vow for long. Trying to keep a non-accusatory tone in his voice, the younger of the two asked, "Are you sure, Yohji? It might be months before we can all be together again sexually." Sighing, he tried to complete his thought saying, "The gods know I was celibate for over two *long* years before joining you and Ken, so it's not much of an issue for me, but this isn't exactly something I thought you'd be willing to try."
Sighing in the darkness as the pain in the back of his head refused to subside and only built instead, Yohji answered tiredly, "Why? Because I used to be such a playboy?" With a deep and obviously pained sigh, the jade-eyed man rubbed at the back of his head in the darkness and asked, "Do you remember the last time Ken got torn up on a mission? Before we formed a ménage à trois?"
The younger of the two thought for a moment and nodded slightly, recollections of seeing Ken's handsome face covered in blood after a confrontation with a group of unschooled yakuza bullies turned into an all-out brawl that included broken bottles and lengths of pipe as weapons. With a dark snarl, the violet-eyed man asked, "You mean the time he had a concussion and four broken ribs and Omi got pretty banged up, too? Yeah, I remember that."
Displeased to be forcing himself to recall such a dismal failure on Weiss' part since the final target, a child prostitution ring-leader, had escaped despite Omi and Ken's sacrifices, Yohji sighed again and said, "Well, what did you think I did then? Forced myself on the guy for the eight weeks it took him to recover? Hell no." A soft, self-loathing snort interrupted his words before he added, "I took a lot of damned cold showers for those two months, but you can bet I didn't agree to make love to him again until he'd been asking for it for a few weeks *and* Norwegian okayed it! Sex isn't as important as his being healthy, Aya. Trust me, I can handle it."
With a nod, Aya granted this as fact despite having some strong residual doubts and then he remarked with greater confidence, "Then you think that agreeing to abstain from sex until Ken can join us is the right thing to do, Yohji? It could be a lot longer than eight weeks this time."
With another bone-weary, pain-filled sigh the blond nodded exhaustedly against his pillow and let his eyes stay shut as he answered with sad confidence, "Beyond a doubt, Aya."
Despite the lack of light in the room, violet eyes could see enough to confirm what his hearing was telling him and the younger of the two answered, "Good. Then that's what we'll do." Trying not to sound accusatory, he asked, "How long ago did the headache get bad again, Yohji, and why didn't you mention it?"
The older of the two winced visibly, something he couldn't hide even in the darkness since they were sharing a bed that carried the vibrations of his motion all too easily. Realizing trying to conceal his discomfort was impossible, the jade-eyed man answered tiredly, "It started getting bad again at the curry place. I don't know why, maybe it was the food or something."
"Hn," Aya snorted in annoyance and then slipped from the bed to retrieve the painkillers from his pocket as well as to pour a glass of water from a pitcher the hotel staff had left with some cups on the dresser. Carrying the drink and medicine to his partner, he handed both to Yohji who simply rolled over on his side to take the pills, it hurt too much to sit up fully.
"Thanks," the lanky blond murmured sincerely yet quietly as he tried to ignore the pain of movement and failed. After he handed the glass back which was set aside quickly so that Aya could slip back into bed to escape the cool air in the room which was torturing his exposed skin, Yohji moaned slightly and simply lay still on his pillow once more.
Disturbed by this turn of events, Aya floundered for a moment between the desire to ask more questions about what might have triggered this painful, ongoing attack and the wish to simply gather the older man into his arms and hold him close comfortingly. Another soft moan that barely escaped gritted teeth ended his internal debate, though, and without a second thought, the scarlet-haired man closed the gulf between them and pulled the lanky blond into his embrace.
Startled at first by the contrast between Aya's words which spoke of sexual self-denial and the suddenness of being pressed bare chest to bare chest, Yohji was somewhat disconcerted until a long-fingered hand gently moved to begin stroking his back in a light massage.
"Just sleep now, Yohji," Aya murmured quietly, hoping that his lover might allow him to help him through the difficult wait for the drugs to take effect. As he felt the tension begin to leave his partner's back even as the blond head tiredly came to rest nestled against his neck, he added very softly, "we'll get through this somehow."
In a barely murmured reply that spoke of sheer agony that could no longer be denied, Yohji responded equally softly, "gods, i hope so, baby." His breath caught in his throat as a new wave of pain shimmered through his awareness and he added in misery, "but it's so hard!"
Heart aching and feeling as helpless now as he had when he saw Ken's bullet-riddled body collapsed and bleeding to death in a nameless building only a few days earlier, Aya answered comfortingly, "shh. i know, yohji, i know. sleep now, all right?" Feeling a nod of assent against his skin, he silently added the words of love his tongue couldn't seem to master.
As Yohji slowly sank into sleep in the course of the next half-hour, Aya was left awake to stare at nothing and to ponder at length why he seemed forced to remain at a distance emotionally from one of the two men he cared for. Sadly, there were no answers that he could find alone and eventually slumber claimed him as well, relieving him of conscious worries and replacing them with subconscious hopes for a future where they might be free of the many dark forces that haunted their lives.
For once, both the Weiss swordsman's and wire-expert's dreams provided them with safe havens from the tortured existences they face in their day-to-day lives and it was a much needed break before facing the changes the next day would bring.
*****
To be continued.
Author's Notes:
[1] Please note that Yohji's infamous tattoo is written in all capital letters and is lacking punctuation, but when I typed it in verbatim, it seemed to be "yelling" at me and I didn't care for that since it disrupted the serious mood of the scene. Therefore, I edited it to suit and hope that the purists out there will forgive me for changing it slightly. Then again, I left out entirely the inverted cross as well as the angel wings and coffin nails spelling out "SIN" since they weren't needed here, so I guess changing it a little is no big deal, right?
[2] Ah, it does get hard to keep including things that tie this story to the intricate web that is the florist/assassins' world without spoilers! However, if you know what this is a reference to, give yourself five bonus points! But if you don't know what this means, try not to give it much thought since it hasn't got any impact on the continuity as of right now. Suffice it to say, it was not in the name of Weiss that the man I refer to here strictly as "Aya" first faced a life-threatening confrontation, okay?
Full Author's Notes to Run at Conclusion.
Please be advised: Parts 48 & 49 will be posted together.