A Dog Among Cats

By: Atsureki

Disclaimers : If they were mine Weiss would be very diffrent. *evil grin*

Warnings : Shonen-ai, OCC, angst.

Notes : Stuff written in Italic are thoughts.

Okay ppl last chapter! YAY Go me!! This didn't end up the way I thought it would, but well here it is and please don't kill me if you don't like it *hides under her bed*

Chapter 8. No More Dog And Cats

The room was quiet except for the low beeps coming from a machine, that monitored Ran's heartbeat, and the jerky hisses from another one. Every now and then a nurse or the doctor came in to check on the redhead but so far nothing had improved. Ken had asked just how serious his lover's condition was but when the doctor answered the brunette really wished he hadn't. Ran's body was giving up on him or was it perhaps Ran who was giving up on life? Two days ago they had been forced to put him in a respirator to help him breath. Life was slipping away right in front of Ken's eyes and he couldn't do a damn thing about it. He felt like crying but had no more tears left to shed. Sadly he looked at his lover's face. It was so pale, thin and ghostly.
"Ran," he sighed and hugged the limp hand resting in his. "Please Ran, come back to me." But his pleading seemed to be ignored again. He'd do anything to see those amethyst eyes look at him again but there was nothing he could do. Exhaused from not sleeping for days the brunette rested his head beside his lover's shoulder. His eyes closed slowly and sleep pulled him away from reality.

Ken woke up with a shudder. His head was heavy from sleeping for too long and the room was way too quiet. Scared he looked up. The beeps that had been his only friend for days were gone and so was the low hissing from the respirator. Ran was still lying in the exact same way he had been for days but the tube in his mouth was gone and so where the little pads that had connected him to the machine counting heartbeats. Ken tasted bile in his mouth. Ran looked… dead. Trembling with fear the brunette watched the pale chest infront of him. To his relief he saw it slowly but steadily rise and fall.
"Hidaka-san?" a raspy male voice asked. Ken turned his head slightly and saw Ran's doctor standing behind him.
"Doctor Ishikawa."
"You been asleep for nearly 24 hours Hidaka-san," Ishikawa said with a small smile.
"How's Ran?"
"Fujimiya-san is showing some signs of improvment. He's breathing on his own again and it finally looks like he's responding to the medication." Ken took a deep breath and felt how relief shot through him. "I won't lie to you though. He's not out of the woods yet." Ishikawa wrote something on his pad and left them alone. Ken stroke away a crimson lock and kissed Ran's pale cheek.
"Fight koi, fight. I need you to come back to me again," he whispered softly. The redhead's eyes moved underneath his eyelids but he didn't open them. Ken leaned back in his chair and felt his heart thumping. Ran was going to be fine, he had to.

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A year later
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Ken smiled as he watched Suzuki play with Marcus and some of their friends. The little boy was a ray of sunshine on a cloudy day to everybody in his presence. With a small sigh he turned to the left and looked at Omi and Yoji. His two friends wore scars from their run in with Takagi's men that night a little over a year ago, just as he himself did. Omi would forever limp slightly because of the shots he had taken in his right leg and Yoji had stopped wearing clothes that showed his stomach due to the large scar he had there. The nasty cut he had received that night had been so infected that the doctor who treated it couldn't understand how Yoji had been able to stand the pain. But that was the Kudou for you. Ken narrowed his eyes and thought back to a conversation he had had with Malice. There had been a reason for her getting involved with Takagi. That day at the hospital she had said that she should have known better than to get involved with him again. At first Ken hadn't thought about it but with so much time on his hands it had started to bother him until he finally asked her. Malice had been living in Japan for almost a years when she met Takagi for the first time. Young and stupid she had fallen in love but the man who seemed so caring wasn't interested in a relationship, he wanted her skill as an assassin. A year past by before she got pregnant and decided to try to straighten up her messy life. Takagi was Marcus' father but wanted nothing to do with his son. Malice struggled for three years to support herself and her child but she knew no other work than killing so she had crawled back to Takagi and begged him to help her. During her first assignment a building exploded and she nearly died. That was the day Kritiker was introduced into her life. She was assigned to a team and most of her life remained hidden from Kritiker, along with her son, but Malice couldn't give up on him. Marcus had been left with Takagi who took care of him in exchange for information. His business blossomed and remained untouched by Kritiker for almost eight years until one night when Takagi's son got killed by Ran. After that Takagi's only goal in life was to get back at the redhead. How that had turned out Ken already knew all too well. The brunette sighed and again looked over to his friends. Malice had once told him how her gift worked so he had wondered how she had managed to convince Yoji to almost rape Omi. The lanky blonde would never have forced himself on anyone but Malice had convinced him that Omi was just shy and since the playboy had feelings for his shorter friend he had fallen for her talant just as Ken had. Tokyo's biggest playboy was in love with a blonde former assassin. Now all Yoji had to do was find the guts to tell him.
"Ken-kun?" The brunette smiled at Omi who waved at him.
"Yes?"
"We're leaving now, are you coming?"
"You two go ahead Omi, I have to go to the cemetery." At that answer the small blonde's smile faded and he came closer.
"Ken why do you go there every week? You're always so sad when you come back." The brunette smiled sadly and tilted his head.
"I promised him I would Omi and I'll never break another promise given to him," he answered softly and left.

The small path that snaked through the cemetery was empty. Ken strolled the familier way lost in thoughts. Weiss was no more. Manx had along with Kritiker decided it was for the best to disolve the team and no one had objected. Neither one of the remaining members were really up to being assassins anymore. Omi still did some computer work for the organisation but that was it. Yoji had gone back to being a PI and Ken was a full time soccer-coach. The brunette pulled away from his thinking when he reached the familier gravestone. He had been there so many times now. Sighing sadly he put down the single red rose he always brought with him and kneeled infront of the stone. A warm summer's day he had stood there during the funeral with a crying Omi on his left and a sad-looking Yoji on his right. Ken had promised himself not to shed any tears but he had. Death was always sad but this one had been devastating. With another sigh he ran his hand over the three ingraved letters and rose to his feet again.
"I'll always keep my promises…" he mumbled before he turned around and walked away.

It was late afternoon when Ken returned to the flat where he lived. The place seemed so empty and dark. With a huff the brunette turned the lights on and strolled into the kitchen. For a moment he searched through the fridge but found nothing of interest there. He left the kitchen and decided to ignore his stomach for a while longer. It was lonely being there all by himself. Ken frowned and started pacing the livingroom. He never had been good at keeping himself busy at home and he got bored and restless very fast. Suddenly he stopped and laughed softly.
"Hidaka, Hidaka," he chuckled quietly. "Ran would scowl at you if he could see you now." When he meantioned the redhead's name the smile on his face faded. "Ken you promised you wouldn't think about him!" he growled to himself. "You know that if you do you'll just get all depressed and stuff." But it was impossible for him to keep Ran from entering his thoughts. To keep himself occupied Ken sank down on the couch and turned on the TV. There would probably not be anything interesting enough to watch but at least the noise usually managed to lull him to sleep.

The horrible sound of the doorbell woke Ken. Growling ugly things under his breath the brunette dragged himself up from the couch to open the door. By the time he go to it he was almost awake enough to actually see where he was going.
"This better be important," he huffed and pulled the door open. A very upset Omi stormed inside almost knocking Ken over. Just barely saved, from dropping on his ass, by the wall behind him the brunette growled. "Omi what are you doing here?!" The slender blonde threw himself on the couch and started babbling. Ken sighed, closed the door and went over to his friend. "Hey Omi! I don't understand what you're saying!" The blonde continued babbling. Ken glanced at the time and groaned. At 2:30 am he wasn't in shape for fast talking genki blondes nor was he in the mood. "OMI!" Finally the babbling stopped.
"Aren't you listening to me Kenken?" Omi pouted.
"Listening? You're talking so fast I can't even understand what you're saying. It's 2:30 in the morning Omi, if you want to talk to me do it slow and please don't use any difficult words because I don't think I can handle them right now," Ken mumbled and tried to keep his eyes open.
"It's Yoji," the blonde said slowly. Well that didn't exactly enlighten Ken's state of confusion.
"Yoji? What has he done this time?" The two blondes shared an apartment a few blocks away and sometimes Yoji tended to upset Omi by, for example, showing up at 3 am drunk out of his mind, drenched in Rum & Coke, lacking one boot, lead by a police officer who wasn't very happy and rather sticky from having the lanky blonde leaning on him. This time the look on Omi's face told Ken that Yoji had done something worse though.
"Ken… he told me that he… he…" The brunette smiled to himself. So Yoji had finally dug up the balls to confess.
"You mean that Yoji told you he has feelings for you?" Omi stared at his friend.
"How did you know?"
"I… Um Omi you didn't just run out on him when he told you did you?" The slender blonde lowered his eyes to the floor. Ken sighed. "Omi, Omi, Omi… Please tell me you just didn't storm out of there without saying anything."
"Well I… sorta… yes I did," the petit blonde admitted and blushed.
"You do like Yoji don't you?" Ken asked slowly and sufficated a yawn.
"Um yes I do but…."
"But?"
"He's Yoji!" Omi exclaimed as if that would explain everything.
"Listen to me Omi… If you don't return his feelings you have to let him know and if you do return them you will have to come clean as well. It's cruel to leave him hanging like that." The blonde chewed on his bottom lip and squirmed.
"It's just so strange to see him so serious and… I do like him Ken-kun, I 'like' him a lot, but I never thought he…"
"Then let him know. I don't mean to be rude Omi but my head is about to explode," Ken almost whined and felt the familier headache kick in.
"You were sleeping on the couch again weren't you?" Omi asked sounding rather thankfull that he could change the subject.
"Well, yes. I can't sleep in that bed when…"
"When Ran isn't sleeping next to you?" the blonde filled in. Ken gave his friend a sad smile.
"I just miss him a lot…"
"Of course you do Ken-kun, we miss him too." The brunette rose from the couch and rubbed his sleepy face.
"You should go home and talk to Yoji now and I need to find something to kill this damn headache with." Omi got up and hugged his friend.
"Try and get some sleep okay? Ran would kill us if we didn't take care of you." Ken let out a sad laugh at that.
"Get going now Omi and call me later okay?" The blonde former known as Bombay smiled and nodded.
"I will and thanks for listening to me."

Ken leaned against his bike and cursed. How he hated airports and airplanes. He had already been waiting for three hours and he was fed up with it. Huffing to himself the brunette returned into the sea of people that hurried back and forth. Planes were always late, always. That damn board that showed the time they should arrive should be tore down and smashed to pieces. Finally the flight he was waiting for showed up and the board told him that it was arriving.
"About freaking time!" Ken muttered and headed further into the large hall. He leaned against the wall and fiddled with his jacket. Now he just had to be able to spot one person out of about a million. His eyes scanned the crowd and brightened when he saw a familier head. "Ran!" he yelled as loud as he could and waved his arm. A pair of glaring amethyst eyes turned his way and immediatly softened. In a matter of seconds the former J-leaguer had pushed his way through the crowd and threw himself at his lover. The redhead smiled softly and wrapped his arms around Ken.
"I thought I'd never get here," Ran mumbled with his face pressed against brown hair.
"I hope no one ever suggests you should go to England again because I'm not letting you out of my sight, ever again!" the brunette muttered with feeling. Ran laughed softly and tilted his lover's face up.
"Don't worry Ken, I'm not going anywhere. If Doctor Ishikawa has any more bright ideas of how to get rid of my scars I'll tell him where to shove them," Ran smirked and brushed his lips against the brunette's. "I was going insane over there." Ken shivered slightly from the soft kiss and buried his face in Ran's sweater breathing in the familier scent.
"Good to know I wasn't the only one at least," he mumbled. "The flat is way too quiet and dark without you." A rather strange comment actually since Ran didn't talk all that much but they both knew what Ken meant. The redhead wrapped one arm around the brunette's shoulders and together they started walking towards the exit.
"Did you take my car?" Ken shook his head.
"I was a bit nervous and excited so I didn't dare to drive your baby," he answered and leaned against the slender body he had missed like crazy.
"Heaven forbid if anything happens to my car," Ran said flatly but it was all fake. Ken smiled to himself. "It's so much better that you get yourself killed on that death-trap of yours." This new Ran was so diffrent then the one who had almost died a year ago. His face could still be very bland and his eyes cold but it wasn't like it used to be.
"Be careful with what you say cause you're going home on that death-trap of mine." The redhead let out a soft chuckle.
"You mean I get to grope you all the way home?" A year ago Ken would probably have fainted at hearing that from his lover.
"Speaking of groping…" Ken grinned. "Guess who's groping who." The redhead gave him a questioning look.
"You mean Kudou finally grew a spine?" Ran wondered in amazement.
"Yeah about a month ago and poor Omi almost died from the shock."
"They're not at our place waiting for us are they?" the redhead suddenly asked as they stopped by Ken's bike.
"No, they're both working, why?" Amethyst eyes were shadowed by a look Ken knew all too well and that still made him blush like a madman.
"Good! I'm not sharing you with anyone tonight," Ran said firmly and pushed down a helmet over his crimson hair. "Did you arrange to have my things brought home?" Ken nodded.
"They'll deliver them tomorrow morning." The brunette got on the bike and waited for his lover to take a seat behind him. "I thought you might want to go to the cemetery and see Aya before we went home." Ran's arms gave him a squeeze.
"I'd like that."
"I was there yesterday but I think she'll be happy to see you again," Ken said softly.
"It means a lot to me that you've been taking care of her even though you always feel so sad when you've been to see her." The brunette took his lover's glove-clad hand in his and hugged it.
"I know how important she is to you Ran and I did promise I would take care of her." With those words he started the bike and they drove away from the busy airport.

It was in the middle of the night when Ran carefully freed himself from his lover's arms and got up. Even though he had spent most of the evening making love to Ken he wasn't really tired. His body was still on english time which probably had a part in it. Barefooted he padded over the cold floor into the kitchen and poured himself some water. He had been stuck at a clinic in England for over four months and it had been awful. Sure he had gotten rid of some of the scars on his back but being separated from Ken wasn't worth it. Quietly he left the kitchen and stopped infront of the mirror in the bathroom. His pale back was criss-crossed with scars from Takagi's whipping along with the scar from the knife that had almost robbed him of his life. They didn't really bother him all that much anymore but he knew that Ken sometimes suffered from seeing them since they reminded him of things he'd rather forget. If Ken hadn't come back to the hospital when he did Ran wouldn't have been alive. That was a fact both men were painfully aware of. The redhead sighed softly. Ken had saved his life several times and the first time had been after Aya's death. Without the brunette Ran would have killed himself that night. He had thought that he had nothing left but Ken had given him something to really live for. The redhead smiled and padded back to the bedroom. He had given up after Marcus had told him that Ken didn't want to return to him. It was scary how much he needed the brunette in his life but that was something he had learnt to accept. Malice had spent a lot of time with him helping him to sort out his shattered mind and when she was done Ran knew exactly how his lover felt, what it was that burdened him so. He could still remember the look in Ken's eyes when he had told the brunette that he loved him for the first time. Ken had looked so happy and alive. The only thing Ran regretted was that it had taken him so long to be able to say those three little words. He sighed a little and thought about the woman who had caused them so much trouble. Malice was gone now. Kritiker had ordered her to be removed, which meant killed, but she had been faster. There were still no proof that she had actually killed herself but Ran knew in his heart that she had. 7 months ago a bomb had destroyed the Nakayama building and Malice had been inside. No one had taken responsibility for the bomb so it wasn't too hard to figure out that she was the one who had set the explosion. Ran sighed again. He hated Malice for what she had done but was she really to blame? Brainwashed by a twisted father, used by Takagi and Kritiker. It was no wonder she had been the way she had. Marcus had been robbed of both of his parents and together with Suzuki the young man had been adopted by a nice family. No one had told anybody that Marcus was a telepath so the teenager was allowed a normal childhood at last. Life works in strange ways, the redhead nodded to himself. The two boys were doing fine and Suzuki reminded Ran so much of his lost sister. Always smiling, always happy without a care in the world. Smiling a little to himself the former assassin went back to bed.
"Ran," Ken mumbled and gave his lover a sleepy look.
"Go back to sleep Ken," the redhead whispered and pulled him into his arms.
"Next time you go up in the middle of the night put on some socks," the brunette muttered and moved away slightly from his lover's cold feet. Ran couldn't help but laugh quietly.
"I'm sorry." Ken grunted something and buried his face under Ran's chin. Content with the warm feeling of his lover's body so close the brunette fell asleep again. For a while Ran listened to Ken's breathing before his brain finally decided to shut down for the night. A pale ray from the moon played over the still forms as the sounds of sleeping men filled the otherwise quiet room.

A few blocks away a lanky blonde stepped in from the balcony and shuddered. It was starting to get colder at night. Yoji shut the door behind him and walked into the bedroom. His green eyes landed on a small body huddling under the covers on the bed.
"Yoji I'm cold," a soft hushed voice complained. The lanky blonde smiled and sat down on the edge of the bed.
"I'm sorry, but I know you don't like it when I smoke in here." A mop of blonde hair showed up from underneath the covers.
"Warm me," Omi demanded with his sleepy voice. Yoji laughed softly and crawled into bed.
"Come here bishonen," he murmured and reached out for his lover's petit body. Omi scooted closer and was pulled into strong arms.
"Mm warm," the petit blonde sighed with content. Yoji smiled and held Omi close. Most of his life he had been chasing women but he had never felt as at ease with them as he did with Omi. The boy-like man in his arms filled the voids in his heart, took away a lot of the pain from his past. Yoji sent a quiet thank you to Malice. If it hadn't been for her he would probably never have admitted to himself that he had feelings for Omi that went beyond friendship and he most certainly wouldn't have found the guts to tell the small blonde. It's funny, the lanky blonde thought, she did all she could think of to destroy and drive us apart and some how she managed to make us stronger and push us together instead. The enemy Weiss had ran into that had had the power to ruin them all had ended up doing the exact opposite. It had cost them all but to Yoji it had been worth it. The former playboy closed his eyes and rested his cheek against Omi's soft hair.
"A dog among cats indeed," he mumbled before sleep claimed him.

~OWARI~

Come one minna you didn't really think I'd kill Ran did you? Sorry but I couldn't resist to tease you all a little. And about the Yoji/Omi parts in here. In the chapter where Malice tricks Ken into sleeping with her she told him that she couldn't make someone do something that wasn't in their nature. Well Yoji had feelings for Omi but supressed them so she simply used that to convince him to try to make Omi his.

And yes Malice had to go! She was doomed from the moment she entered this fic. She was insane and dangerous and no matter how sorry I feel for her she needed to die. But she did pay for her mistakes did she not?

Sorry that there wasn't any Lemon stuff in here but dammit those things are hard to write *complains* I might be able to whip one up for Broken Inside but I ain't making any promises.

Please do tell me if there's anything you think I should change in here or if there's something I need to explain better.

Last but not least in any way… Thanks to all you lovely ppl who have reviewed this fic and urged me on to finish it. You're all great! *glomps you all* And a special warm and fuzzy thank you to Jin and fei who are simply the best! You two rock!!!! *extra glomps to you*

Hm I think I'm going to miss this fic *pouts. Oh well… Ja/Atsureki