It was at this point in our story that Omi felt the necessity of returning to the Koneko.  After all, it was not especially wise to leave a popular shop alone for any extended period of time, much like he just had.  And who know where Ken had gone off to, by that point? 

Strangely, Omi found that Ken wasn't too far away.  In fact, Omi found that Ken had hidden in a quite convenient spot, if a stupid one—behind the counter. 

"Omi, psst," he whispered when Omi slid around the counter.  "Is he…  Is he gone?  Calm?"

Omi sighed. 

"Ken, don't worry about it, okay?  When he comes down, we'll just sit down and have a talk, and get this all straightened out, all right?  It will be fine.  Yoji is not going to kill you, don't worry." 

Ken swallowed and hung his shiny head. 

"I really hope you're right, Omi."  He paused and put a hand to his throat.  "I like living…" 

 "Ohh," Omi said, swatting him with a hand.  "Don't even pretend, Ken!  Yoji's not really that angr—" 

There was a sudden crash from somewhere nearby.  Ken looked up at Omi, eyes wide. 

"Don't worry," Omi said cheerfully, not really sure if he believed himself.  "It'll be fine." 

And then the door opened, and there was Yoji, with a hat on his head.  It appeared that he had tried to stuff all of his hair into it, but little by little the unruly locks were escaping.  Oh, and also he had Aya in his arms.  Aya appeared to be asleep, again.  …How did he keep disappearing, anyway, Omi found himself wondering. 

"Omi!" Yoji said brightly.  "You haven't seen Ken in the last, oh, four minutes, have you?" 

Omi shook his head. 

"Oh, more's the pity, then.  …You lost this, by the way," he said, setting Aya down on the floor.  "God, has he been taking sleeping pills or something?—he's really out of it." 

Omi shrugged. 

"We never found out why he's so tired, but…  Yoji.  If Ken were here, what would you do?" Omi asked nervously.  "You'd sit down with him to talk this out like reasonable adults, right?" 

Yoji laughed. 

"You'd think that, wouldn't you?  But, no.  I would find something much more creative to do."  Yoji smiled to himself and got a rather faraway look in his eyes.  "I would make him suffer.  You know, hold him down and shave his eyebrows off or something."  He laughed and assumed a thoughtful pose.  "Or maybe something else.  I'll know when I get a hold of the git, I'll tell you that much.  I trust inspiration to come on its own, Omi.  Now, if you'll excuse me," he paused to crack his knuckles, "I have a little worm to dig up." 

Yoji moved across the shop and towards the exit, but at that moment his hair chose to push the hat off of his head entirely.  It flew an impressive five feet away, and he turned and glowered fiercely at it. 

He took the few steps over to it and picked it up.

"Did I mention that I'm going to hurt Ken badly?" he asked, returning it to his head. 

Omi nodded violently, plastering a smile on his face. 

Yoji turned to leave once more, and once more the hat decided that it didn't want to cooperate. 

Sproing!

And again, Yoji turned in the direction it had flown, suddenly looking psychotic. 

"Ooo-mi," he asked sweetly, stalking over to the hat again.  "Is there any tape back there?" 

Omi opened a drawer. 

"…Duct," he said, holding up the roll of  thick grey tape. 

"Gimme," Yoji said, rushing over to Omi and grabbing the tape from his hand.  Behind the counter, Ken cowered in fear of being caught. 

Yoji ripped off two pieces of duct tape, and, pushing the hat back into place, proceeded to tape the edges to his face.  He laughed maniacally. 

"Now let's see you escape!" he cackled.  "And, for that matter, let's see Ken try to escape!"  He went into another fit of maniacal laughter as he strode to the door.  Before leaving, he turned to Omi once more and saluted.  "See you later, Omittchi!" 

Omi nodded once again as the bells on the door jangled.   

 After a few moments, Ken stood up, fear etched onto his face. 

"Omi, what am I going to do?" he asked, allowing his head to drop onto the counter.  "I'm so dead." 

"No!  Ken, don't you see?—he's gone now, we can just go buy more conditioner, and it's all good!" 

Ken looked at him with horror. 

"That's probably the first place he'll look for me, Omi!  I'm dead!" 

"Hmm… Maybe you're right."

"I'll have to go into hiding, Omi, I'll—"

"Wait!  I know!  We can send Aya to get the conditioner, and you can go hide until this evening!" 

Ken's face went slack, and then suddenly he broke into a huge grin and grabbed Omi in a bone-crushing hug. 

"OMI!  You are such a little genius!"

At that point, Ken hurried over to Aya and shook him awake again. 

"Aya!" he screeched.  "AYA!" 

Aya jumped. 

"No, Torrie,—" he started to say, but then stopped dead and blinked up at Ken.  His look shifted from surprise and shock into a death-glare as he got to his feet.  "What?" he asked Ken petulantly. 

Ken's eyes filled with tears, and he clung to the front of Aya's shirt. 

"You've got to help me!  Did you hear that?  Yoji's gonna kill me!  Please, please, Aya, you've got to go find this conditioner for me—for all of us—before it's too late!" 

Aya's eyes narrowed. 

"What do I get out of it?" he asked. 

"My never-ending devotion?"

"As if I haven't got that already.  You can do better."

"I'll…  wax your katana?"

"You think I'd let you touch it?  Wrong."

"Come on, Aya!  It's not like you'll be totally inconvenienced by this, right?  Isn't my life worth it to you?"

"Actually, I will be inconvenienced.  Do you know where Yoji gets that stuff?  It's across town.  And it's always crowded.  You'll have to make it up to me somehow." 

"Please," Ken pleaded.  "I'll do anything for you, I'll let you think of it later!  Just do this for me!" 

For the briefest second, the corners of Aya's mouth twitched up into an unmistakable smile. 

"Anything…  All right, Ken.  I'll do it." 

"You will?  Awesome!  Come on Omi," he said, hurrying over and grabbing the younger boy.  "You're coming with me.  To protect me.  And plus, you're just so full of good ideas, nothing can go wrong if you're around!" 

Yeah, Omi thought, right—if that's the truth, then why is this day happening? 

---------

Notes: Uh…  This should've been longer, but I felt like posting it, because according to my reviews, I guess I didn't mention that this was going to be a multi-parter.  I didn't want to leave people hanging, there, so here's more!  And there's more to come, still!  So s-s-s-stick around. 

(Insert standard disclaimer HERE)