A Fine Romance
Places
Yohji was exhausted. Physically, mentally, and spiritually dead. It had been a typically busy day at the shop, and topped with memories of his dream and his little mental breakdown earlier, all he really wanted to do was curl up in bed and swallow all his Trazadone¹ in one fell swoop. But he knew he wouldn't- he couldn't. Omi would never allow it. The kid was just too damn loyal. And, of course, right as they had been closing, who should walk up to the door of the shop? Yohji had seen her coming. After all, he could recognize her legs anywhere, especially with her habit of wearing socks with high heels. Go figure. And now, Manx was standing in front of them, babbling on about some mission or another. It made him wonder why he didn't just close the door and run in the first place.
"Balinese!" Yohji snapped up to attention. "Are you paying attention?" Yohji gave her a slow wink almost completely on reflex.
"'Course I am. I was staring at you the whole time, wasn't I?" Witty, Kudou. Nice comeback. He smiled to himself as Manx rolled her eyes.
"This is important. Members of Kritiker have been showing up dead. We've had three reported fatalities, and none of them were merciful. Normally, this is a scenario in which we would be taking care of this ourselves, but circumstances require we keep a low profile of ourselves. Hopefully, that will make our murderer's job a bit harder. It has been decided that discretion is best, and that is why we're calling upon our... task forces."
"You mean your grunge-workers." Ran was scowling as he spoke.
"I mean small-time names in Kritiker. First off, you'll be less known and recognizable, which may help save your lives in the long run. Second off, yes. We need people to do the dirty work. You've been doing it for years without complaint, why start now?"
Ran opened his mouth, then closed it again, still scowling, but opting for silence rather than argument. Manx nodded.
"You will be going to Okinawa, where the last victim was found. There, you will cooperate and work with another of our groups stationed there. Bombay, here is the file containing their personal information. It is your job, working in association with this group, to find out who is behind the murders and take him down."
"I dunno... it sounds really sketchy," Yohji drawled. Manx turned to him with a scowl, the first expression of anger he'd ever seen from her.
"This is not negotiable. You will accept this mission, as your employment and very lives depend on it. Good luck, Weiß." Everyone in the room simply watched in surprise as Manx turned and walked out of the basement, fluffy red hair bouncing behind her.
"Wow," Omi breathed. "She's serious about this. I better take a look at that file," he pondered aloud, picking up the folder and disappearing from the room. Ran looked to Yohji, who remained seated impassively on the sofa.
"Go get packed," the redheaded leader ordered. "We're leaving tomorrow."
"Ken-chan! Wake up!" A groan sounded from the reluctant waking soccer player as Neko's voice resounded up the stairs. It was a Saturday, for crying out loud! He wanted to sleep in! The door to his room opened, and Ken let out a defeated sigh.
"All right, all right, I'm getting up. Happy, Neko?"
"I'm sure she's not as happy as I am." Ken sat up and jerked around at the voice, a smile immediately alighting his features. Nikolai stepped into the room and slid the door shut behind him. "Good morning."
"It is now," Ken replied, scooting over to offer his boyfriend a seat, which was taken gratefully.
"What did you dream about?" Nikolai asked, snaking his arms around the smaller boy. He took a second to plant a gentle kiss at Ken's temple.
"I dreamed about you. And a nice, romantic walk, just the two of us..." He smiled jovially at his lover, tenderly brushing strands of ice- blue hair away from his face. Nikolai chuckled.
"Could it have been a premonition?" An exaggerated shudder went through the soccer player.
"That would make me Brad Crawford." The Russian mimicked the shiver, hints of a grin still on his lips. Quiet, light-hearted chuckles filtered throughout the room, leaving the two staring at one another as the sounds faded.
"I love you," Nikolai whispered, leaning in and pressing his forehead to Ken's. Ken tilted his neck slightly and smiled.
"I love you, too." Their lips pressed together then opened, tongues delicately rubbing against one another. The click of a shutter and the burst of light from a flash brought the two apart, both looking to the doorway where Neko stood, camera in hand, looking entirely too pleased with herself.
"That is SO cute!"
"I hate you, Neko." The green-haired girl smiled sweetly at Nikolai, who was frowning playfully at her. Ken poked his lover in the side, eliciting a squeal from the older boy.
"He doesn't mean it. We all love you, Neko-chan."
"You'd better," she said as she tucked the camera away into one of the many pockets of her jeans. "I made breakfast. Hayato is already downstairs, so I suggest you hurry up before he eats everything." She gave the two a thumb's-up before turning and disappearing down the stairs. Nikolai looked to Ken.
"You wanna get dressed?" Ken shrugged.
"Seems like a good idea."
"Can I watch?"
"Sure." Nikolai grinned widely.
"Can I help?" Ken's face returned the grin.
"Of course."
An hour later, Ken and Nikolai descended from the upstairs region and wandered into the kitchen. Neko was standing right in front of the fridge, a mock frown on her face. She was tapping her foot impatiently and trying her best to look annoyed at the two.
"Thank you for taking your sweet time getting down here. Next time, though, I suggest you spend more time putting on clothes instead of taking them off." Nikolai gave her a grin.
"You're just jealous you couldn't get a picture of Ken's sweet ass." He gave Ken's butt a squeeze, and Ken's face turned seven shades of red.
"NIKO!" The Russian burst out laughing, and a very flustered Ken turned away from him. A very loud 'ahem' pulled the focus back onto Neko, who, Ken observed, had a manila folder in her hand. The room fell silent, an air of seriousness filling the space, making itself almost tangible. They all knew what the file folder meant.
"What's the mission?" Ken asked.
"Members of Kritiker are showing up dead. Another group will be joining us to investigate and track down the person or persons responsible," Neko explained.
"What is the other group...?" Ken felt a wrench in his guts, anticipating and fearing what was going to be said next.
"I don't know. Birman said that the other group would come to us. Since this is where the last member of Kritiker was found dead, she couldn't allow too much information to be risked, so all I have is the basic information. Feel free to read through the files." She set the folder on the counter and walked past the two boys. She turned upon reaching the doorway. "By the way, Hayato finished off all of my pancakes, so you can fend for yourselves."
Ken cast a nervous look at the folder and picked it up. He jumped a little when he felt a hand touch his shoulder. Niko's eyes caught and held his own, reflecting his frightened expression.
"It'll be okay, Ken. It'll be okay."
Omigod... Omifuckinggod. This is not going to be good...
Omi stared out the window of the car, blankly gazing at the blurred landscape flying by. He was too consumed with his thoughts to see anything. Had he not been in such excellent shape, he would have had a heart attack the previous night. While reading through the personal files of the group they were on the way to meet, who's picture and info should he come across but Ken's. He hadn't the heart to tell Yohji. Now, it was only inevitable. He couldn't help wondering how the meeting would go, if both of them would find a way to duck out of the mission, or if they would actually get along like old times... The latter didn't seem very likely.
They were almost there. In less than half an hour, Weiß would be in Okinawa. This was definitely not a good thing.
"You're being awfully quiet, kiddo," Yohji drawled from the front seat. "Nervous?" Omi blinked and looked at the clock again. 28 minutes...
"I haven't been nervous about missions in years, Yohji. I'm just kinda tired," he lied. "I stayed up all night going through the files and what little information we have." At least that part of it was true. He neglected to tell anyone that most of that time spent 'reviewing' had been reading up on Ken.
"If you say so. You know where to go to find this other group once we get into town?" Omi looked at the clock again. 27 minutes. He silently begged the clock to slow down or stop, anything to keep them from getting to Okinawa. Several seconds passed. Nothing happened.
Stupid Powers-That-Be...
"Yeah," the blonde sighed. "I've got the location. Any more questions?" Yohji fell silent. Ran snorted softly behind the wheel, which thankfully meant that there was going to be no more talking. Omi returned his eyes to the landscape, seeping back into his thoughts. Something bad was going to happen, he could feel it in his bones. Great.
Before Omi even realized it, he felt the car pulling to a stop. He blinked and looked around at the colourful buildings and more colourful people bustling about their daily lives. They were there...
"Where now?" Ran asked. His voice was tired and just slightly irritable, lacking even the icy edge it usually had. He'd been driving for hours, so it was understandable.
"Go straight," Omi instructed. "Turn here. Take a left... and... Stop!" The car jerked to a halt in front of a restaurant labeled 'Bertucci's'. Yohji raised an eyebrow behind low-riding sunglasses.
"You sure about this, bishounen?" Omi frowned at the pet name the older assassin often used on him.
"Yes, *Yo-tan*, I'm sure," he sniped back. "The girl who owns the restaurant is named Neko Arisugawa. She's the one we're looking for."
"Let's go." Ran pulled the key out of the ignition and got out of the car, stretching his legs out gratefully. Yohji and Omi followed suit, and they headed inside.
The door jingled, and Neko let out a soft sigh. She took a second to damn herself for not putting up a sign for her break and stood to greet her customers. She walked to the front of her restaurant and gave a swift once- over of the three standing before her. A beautiful redhead in a god-awful orange sweater, a kid who didn't look a day over 15, and a tall, lanky man who looked like he'd just crawled out of some seedy dive in the downtown area. But, business was business. She pasted a smile on her face and brushed forest-coloured bangs behind her ears.
"Hi! How are you?"
"Arisugawa-san?" Neko blinked at the boy, caught a bit off guard that he knew her name. He stepped forward, his large eyes fixed on her.
"That's me..." The boy reached inside of his jacket and pulled the tip of a manila folder from his vest wordlessly. A moment of silence followed before Neko turned, her dark green hair swishing softly behind her.
"Follow me." She pulled a key out of her pocket and locked the door, switching the sign over before she proceeded toward the back area, not glancing back to see if the others were following her. Halfway through the walkthrough, she stopped and pressed her hand against the wall. Giving a gentle push, the trapdoor swung open, revealing a set of stairs. The quartet walked down them, the light growing dimmer as they descended. At last, they were inside a room that much resembled the basement to the flower shop. Omi minutely wondered if all Kritiker-based assassin HQ's had rooms like this. He had but a moment to ponder this before the girl whipped around, a gun in each hand, trained on the assassins.
"Don't move," she hissed. "You do everything I say, or I'll blow all your pretty little heads off. Take your weapons and put them on the floor." Weiß hesitated a moment, but Ran made the first move, pulling the short sword he'd concealed in the waistband of his pants out, dropping it with a clatter to the ground. Yohji followed, dropping his watch beside himself. Omi reached into his vest and pulled out an arsenal of needles and darts, setting them down beside the other felled weapons. "Good. Now stand perfectly still. I see any of you move, all of you die.
"Who sent you?"
"Persia," Ran answered. Neko hesitated.
"Prove it." Omi reached inside of his vest, and Neko instantly had one of her guns aimed at his head. "Slowly..." Omi swallowed and pulled the folder out, holding it in front of him. Neko pondered for a second, then replaced one gun to her apron, reaching forward with her free hand to retrieve the file. She stepped back and lowered her eyes to look at its contents. Yohji stooped down to get his watch when a bullet bounced right by his hand on the floor. He jumped and straightened again.
"That was a warning, boy. Next one goes into your brain." Weiß fell stone still as Neko's eyes ran over the words in the file rapidly. After what seemed like minutes, she lowered her gun and put it down.
"Sorry about that, but one can never be too careful, especially with what's going on right now. Do forgive me." Her tone of voice had softened to its usual sweet nature. "You can pick your stuff up now. I won't hurt you." She smiled a bit at herself. "Welcome to Bertucci's. You guys want a pizza or something?"
Ken sighed lightly, his eyes fixed to the ground as he walked along the emptying street. A tender squeeze of his hand brought his attention upward, his eyes falling on the tall Russian walking beside him.
"What's wrong, love?" Nikolai asked. "You've been sighing all day. This walk was your idea, but if you'd rather not be here, I can take you home or wherever you want to be." Ken shook his head.
"No, it's not that, Niko... I'm just... glad to be here with you." Nikolai slowed to a stop, Ken stopping with him. Those intensely green eyes were sparkling in the dying light, his lips turned upward in a smile.
"I love you so much, Ken-chan." Without warning, he stooped down and pressed those lips to Ken's own, tightening his grip on his lover's hand. Ken melted and leaned against Nikolai's strong frame. Yohji had never allowed public displays, wouldn't even hold his hand let alone kiss him right in the middle of the street. Goddamn it, there he was again! Ever since news of the other group coming to work in collaboration with Wispern, Ken couldn't get Yohji out of his mind. There was no guarantee that it would be Weiß, but something told Ken it was. Even wrapped in the arms of someone who loved him, who would never let hurt him, would never let anyone else hurt him, thoughts of his former lover seeped in. Ken stepped back from the kiss and could feel Nikolai's reluctance in letting him go.
"We should head back," Ken murmured. "Neko-chan will worry about us." Ken started to turn when Nikolai gently pulled him back and turned him around.
"Neko knows we're out together. She won't worry. Please tell me what's bothering you, Ken. I want to help..." The brunette opened his mouth to speak when a shrill ring interrupted him. Nikolai groaned and reached into his pocket, producing his phone.
"What? Neko?? Hold on, I can't hear you..." He pulled the phone away and cast Ken a regretful look. "Go ahead back to the restaurant, babe. I'll meet up with you in a second." He turned away. "Neko? Hold on... Okay, that's better. What's going on?"
Ken sighed in frustration and raked a hand through messy chocolate locks. He shoved his hands into his pockets and plodded away from his blue- haired boyfriend back towards Bertucci's, where he knew Neko would be. Blank thoughts followed him most of the way back until he rounded the final corner and saw a tall figure standing by the door of the restaurant, a cigarette in his hand. The figure turned, and Ken sucked in a sharp breath, his heart skipping a beat in shock. The figure had seen him as well, for he, too, froze, cigarette falling out of that familiar mouth, rolling forgotten on the sidewalk. For a minute, neither moved, spoke, or barely breathed. It wasn't until the figure straightened that Ken found his voice.
".........Yohji........."
Author's Note: Blarg. I found a way to cheat ff.net, but it's still not quite perfect. Much thanks to those of you who have left comments thus far. It truly is because of you that this second chapter is going up. I hope you liked it as much as you liked Ch. 1. I have no idea what I'm going to do for the next chapter, so those of you genuinely interested in reading this story, be patient. I'll try to make it worth your while.
-Kourui Kurenai-
Places
Yohji was exhausted. Physically, mentally, and spiritually dead. It had been a typically busy day at the shop, and topped with memories of his dream and his little mental breakdown earlier, all he really wanted to do was curl up in bed and swallow all his Trazadone¹ in one fell swoop. But he knew he wouldn't- he couldn't. Omi would never allow it. The kid was just too damn loyal. And, of course, right as they had been closing, who should walk up to the door of the shop? Yohji had seen her coming. After all, he could recognize her legs anywhere, especially with her habit of wearing socks with high heels. Go figure. And now, Manx was standing in front of them, babbling on about some mission or another. It made him wonder why he didn't just close the door and run in the first place.
"Balinese!" Yohji snapped up to attention. "Are you paying attention?" Yohji gave her a slow wink almost completely on reflex.
"'Course I am. I was staring at you the whole time, wasn't I?" Witty, Kudou. Nice comeback. He smiled to himself as Manx rolled her eyes.
"This is important. Members of Kritiker have been showing up dead. We've had three reported fatalities, and none of them were merciful. Normally, this is a scenario in which we would be taking care of this ourselves, but circumstances require we keep a low profile of ourselves. Hopefully, that will make our murderer's job a bit harder. It has been decided that discretion is best, and that is why we're calling upon our... task forces."
"You mean your grunge-workers." Ran was scowling as he spoke.
"I mean small-time names in Kritiker. First off, you'll be less known and recognizable, which may help save your lives in the long run. Second off, yes. We need people to do the dirty work. You've been doing it for years without complaint, why start now?"
Ran opened his mouth, then closed it again, still scowling, but opting for silence rather than argument. Manx nodded.
"You will be going to Okinawa, where the last victim was found. There, you will cooperate and work with another of our groups stationed there. Bombay, here is the file containing their personal information. It is your job, working in association with this group, to find out who is behind the murders and take him down."
"I dunno... it sounds really sketchy," Yohji drawled. Manx turned to him with a scowl, the first expression of anger he'd ever seen from her.
"This is not negotiable. You will accept this mission, as your employment and very lives depend on it. Good luck, Weiß." Everyone in the room simply watched in surprise as Manx turned and walked out of the basement, fluffy red hair bouncing behind her.
"Wow," Omi breathed. "She's serious about this. I better take a look at that file," he pondered aloud, picking up the folder and disappearing from the room. Ran looked to Yohji, who remained seated impassively on the sofa.
"Go get packed," the redheaded leader ordered. "We're leaving tomorrow."
"Ken-chan! Wake up!" A groan sounded from the reluctant waking soccer player as Neko's voice resounded up the stairs. It was a Saturday, for crying out loud! He wanted to sleep in! The door to his room opened, and Ken let out a defeated sigh.
"All right, all right, I'm getting up. Happy, Neko?"
"I'm sure she's not as happy as I am." Ken sat up and jerked around at the voice, a smile immediately alighting his features. Nikolai stepped into the room and slid the door shut behind him. "Good morning."
"It is now," Ken replied, scooting over to offer his boyfriend a seat, which was taken gratefully.
"What did you dream about?" Nikolai asked, snaking his arms around the smaller boy. He took a second to plant a gentle kiss at Ken's temple.
"I dreamed about you. And a nice, romantic walk, just the two of us..." He smiled jovially at his lover, tenderly brushing strands of ice- blue hair away from his face. Nikolai chuckled.
"Could it have been a premonition?" An exaggerated shudder went through the soccer player.
"That would make me Brad Crawford." The Russian mimicked the shiver, hints of a grin still on his lips. Quiet, light-hearted chuckles filtered throughout the room, leaving the two staring at one another as the sounds faded.
"I love you," Nikolai whispered, leaning in and pressing his forehead to Ken's. Ken tilted his neck slightly and smiled.
"I love you, too." Their lips pressed together then opened, tongues delicately rubbing against one another. The click of a shutter and the burst of light from a flash brought the two apart, both looking to the doorway where Neko stood, camera in hand, looking entirely too pleased with herself.
"That is SO cute!"
"I hate you, Neko." The green-haired girl smiled sweetly at Nikolai, who was frowning playfully at her. Ken poked his lover in the side, eliciting a squeal from the older boy.
"He doesn't mean it. We all love you, Neko-chan."
"You'd better," she said as she tucked the camera away into one of the many pockets of her jeans. "I made breakfast. Hayato is already downstairs, so I suggest you hurry up before he eats everything." She gave the two a thumb's-up before turning and disappearing down the stairs. Nikolai looked to Ken.
"You wanna get dressed?" Ken shrugged.
"Seems like a good idea."
"Can I watch?"
"Sure." Nikolai grinned widely.
"Can I help?" Ken's face returned the grin.
"Of course."
An hour later, Ken and Nikolai descended from the upstairs region and wandered into the kitchen. Neko was standing right in front of the fridge, a mock frown on her face. She was tapping her foot impatiently and trying her best to look annoyed at the two.
"Thank you for taking your sweet time getting down here. Next time, though, I suggest you spend more time putting on clothes instead of taking them off." Nikolai gave her a grin.
"You're just jealous you couldn't get a picture of Ken's sweet ass." He gave Ken's butt a squeeze, and Ken's face turned seven shades of red.
"NIKO!" The Russian burst out laughing, and a very flustered Ken turned away from him. A very loud 'ahem' pulled the focus back onto Neko, who, Ken observed, had a manila folder in her hand. The room fell silent, an air of seriousness filling the space, making itself almost tangible. They all knew what the file folder meant.
"What's the mission?" Ken asked.
"Members of Kritiker are showing up dead. Another group will be joining us to investigate and track down the person or persons responsible," Neko explained.
"What is the other group...?" Ken felt a wrench in his guts, anticipating and fearing what was going to be said next.
"I don't know. Birman said that the other group would come to us. Since this is where the last member of Kritiker was found dead, she couldn't allow too much information to be risked, so all I have is the basic information. Feel free to read through the files." She set the folder on the counter and walked past the two boys. She turned upon reaching the doorway. "By the way, Hayato finished off all of my pancakes, so you can fend for yourselves."
Ken cast a nervous look at the folder and picked it up. He jumped a little when he felt a hand touch his shoulder. Niko's eyes caught and held his own, reflecting his frightened expression.
"It'll be okay, Ken. It'll be okay."
Omigod... Omifuckinggod. This is not going to be good...
Omi stared out the window of the car, blankly gazing at the blurred landscape flying by. He was too consumed with his thoughts to see anything. Had he not been in such excellent shape, he would have had a heart attack the previous night. While reading through the personal files of the group they were on the way to meet, who's picture and info should he come across but Ken's. He hadn't the heart to tell Yohji. Now, it was only inevitable. He couldn't help wondering how the meeting would go, if both of them would find a way to duck out of the mission, or if they would actually get along like old times... The latter didn't seem very likely.
They were almost there. In less than half an hour, Weiß would be in Okinawa. This was definitely not a good thing.
"You're being awfully quiet, kiddo," Yohji drawled from the front seat. "Nervous?" Omi blinked and looked at the clock again. 28 minutes...
"I haven't been nervous about missions in years, Yohji. I'm just kinda tired," he lied. "I stayed up all night going through the files and what little information we have." At least that part of it was true. He neglected to tell anyone that most of that time spent 'reviewing' had been reading up on Ken.
"If you say so. You know where to go to find this other group once we get into town?" Omi looked at the clock again. 27 minutes. He silently begged the clock to slow down or stop, anything to keep them from getting to Okinawa. Several seconds passed. Nothing happened.
Stupid Powers-That-Be...
"Yeah," the blonde sighed. "I've got the location. Any more questions?" Yohji fell silent. Ran snorted softly behind the wheel, which thankfully meant that there was going to be no more talking. Omi returned his eyes to the landscape, seeping back into his thoughts. Something bad was going to happen, he could feel it in his bones. Great.
Before Omi even realized it, he felt the car pulling to a stop. He blinked and looked around at the colourful buildings and more colourful people bustling about their daily lives. They were there...
"Where now?" Ran asked. His voice was tired and just slightly irritable, lacking even the icy edge it usually had. He'd been driving for hours, so it was understandable.
"Go straight," Omi instructed. "Turn here. Take a left... and... Stop!" The car jerked to a halt in front of a restaurant labeled 'Bertucci's'. Yohji raised an eyebrow behind low-riding sunglasses.
"You sure about this, bishounen?" Omi frowned at the pet name the older assassin often used on him.
"Yes, *Yo-tan*, I'm sure," he sniped back. "The girl who owns the restaurant is named Neko Arisugawa. She's the one we're looking for."
"Let's go." Ran pulled the key out of the ignition and got out of the car, stretching his legs out gratefully. Yohji and Omi followed suit, and they headed inside.
The door jingled, and Neko let out a soft sigh. She took a second to damn herself for not putting up a sign for her break and stood to greet her customers. She walked to the front of her restaurant and gave a swift once- over of the three standing before her. A beautiful redhead in a god-awful orange sweater, a kid who didn't look a day over 15, and a tall, lanky man who looked like he'd just crawled out of some seedy dive in the downtown area. But, business was business. She pasted a smile on her face and brushed forest-coloured bangs behind her ears.
"Hi! How are you?"
"Arisugawa-san?" Neko blinked at the boy, caught a bit off guard that he knew her name. He stepped forward, his large eyes fixed on her.
"That's me..." The boy reached inside of his jacket and pulled the tip of a manila folder from his vest wordlessly. A moment of silence followed before Neko turned, her dark green hair swishing softly behind her.
"Follow me." She pulled a key out of her pocket and locked the door, switching the sign over before she proceeded toward the back area, not glancing back to see if the others were following her. Halfway through the walkthrough, she stopped and pressed her hand against the wall. Giving a gentle push, the trapdoor swung open, revealing a set of stairs. The quartet walked down them, the light growing dimmer as they descended. At last, they were inside a room that much resembled the basement to the flower shop. Omi minutely wondered if all Kritiker-based assassin HQ's had rooms like this. He had but a moment to ponder this before the girl whipped around, a gun in each hand, trained on the assassins.
"Don't move," she hissed. "You do everything I say, or I'll blow all your pretty little heads off. Take your weapons and put them on the floor." Weiß hesitated a moment, but Ran made the first move, pulling the short sword he'd concealed in the waistband of his pants out, dropping it with a clatter to the ground. Yohji followed, dropping his watch beside himself. Omi reached into his vest and pulled out an arsenal of needles and darts, setting them down beside the other felled weapons. "Good. Now stand perfectly still. I see any of you move, all of you die.
"Who sent you?"
"Persia," Ran answered. Neko hesitated.
"Prove it." Omi reached inside of his vest, and Neko instantly had one of her guns aimed at his head. "Slowly..." Omi swallowed and pulled the folder out, holding it in front of him. Neko pondered for a second, then replaced one gun to her apron, reaching forward with her free hand to retrieve the file. She stepped back and lowered her eyes to look at its contents. Yohji stooped down to get his watch when a bullet bounced right by his hand on the floor. He jumped and straightened again.
"That was a warning, boy. Next one goes into your brain." Weiß fell stone still as Neko's eyes ran over the words in the file rapidly. After what seemed like minutes, she lowered her gun and put it down.
"Sorry about that, but one can never be too careful, especially with what's going on right now. Do forgive me." Her tone of voice had softened to its usual sweet nature. "You can pick your stuff up now. I won't hurt you." She smiled a bit at herself. "Welcome to Bertucci's. You guys want a pizza or something?"
Ken sighed lightly, his eyes fixed to the ground as he walked along the emptying street. A tender squeeze of his hand brought his attention upward, his eyes falling on the tall Russian walking beside him.
"What's wrong, love?" Nikolai asked. "You've been sighing all day. This walk was your idea, but if you'd rather not be here, I can take you home or wherever you want to be." Ken shook his head.
"No, it's not that, Niko... I'm just... glad to be here with you." Nikolai slowed to a stop, Ken stopping with him. Those intensely green eyes were sparkling in the dying light, his lips turned upward in a smile.
"I love you so much, Ken-chan." Without warning, he stooped down and pressed those lips to Ken's own, tightening his grip on his lover's hand. Ken melted and leaned against Nikolai's strong frame. Yohji had never allowed public displays, wouldn't even hold his hand let alone kiss him right in the middle of the street. Goddamn it, there he was again! Ever since news of the other group coming to work in collaboration with Wispern, Ken couldn't get Yohji out of his mind. There was no guarantee that it would be Weiß, but something told Ken it was. Even wrapped in the arms of someone who loved him, who would never let hurt him, would never let anyone else hurt him, thoughts of his former lover seeped in. Ken stepped back from the kiss and could feel Nikolai's reluctance in letting him go.
"We should head back," Ken murmured. "Neko-chan will worry about us." Ken started to turn when Nikolai gently pulled him back and turned him around.
"Neko knows we're out together. She won't worry. Please tell me what's bothering you, Ken. I want to help..." The brunette opened his mouth to speak when a shrill ring interrupted him. Nikolai groaned and reached into his pocket, producing his phone.
"What? Neko?? Hold on, I can't hear you..." He pulled the phone away and cast Ken a regretful look. "Go ahead back to the restaurant, babe. I'll meet up with you in a second." He turned away. "Neko? Hold on... Okay, that's better. What's going on?"
Ken sighed in frustration and raked a hand through messy chocolate locks. He shoved his hands into his pockets and plodded away from his blue- haired boyfriend back towards Bertucci's, where he knew Neko would be. Blank thoughts followed him most of the way back until he rounded the final corner and saw a tall figure standing by the door of the restaurant, a cigarette in his hand. The figure turned, and Ken sucked in a sharp breath, his heart skipping a beat in shock. The figure had seen him as well, for he, too, froze, cigarette falling out of that familiar mouth, rolling forgotten on the sidewalk. For a minute, neither moved, spoke, or barely breathed. It wasn't until the figure straightened that Ken found his voice.
".........Yohji........."
Author's Note: Blarg. I found a way to cheat ff.net, but it's still not quite perfect. Much thanks to those of you who have left comments thus far. It truly is because of you that this second chapter is going up. I hope you liked it as much as you liked Ch. 1. I have no idea what I'm going to do for the next chapter, so those of you genuinely interested in reading this story, be patient. I'll try to make it worth your while.
-Kourui Kurenai-