The Pony Express
By: Atsureki
Disclaimers : Just borrowing them! Don't ask, don't sue.
Warnings : AU, Shonen-ai, OCC, more warnings in later chapters
Notes : Stuff in Italic are thoughts as usual.
Chapter 3. We All Have Scars
Why had he said that his name was Aya? Ran mentally slapped himself for being so stupid. Wasn't it enough that that name and the face that belonged to it haunted him every night? Aya, sweet smiling happy Aya. The redhead winced and shook his head. His little sister was gone, just like the rest of his family and he could do nothing about it at the moment. But one day he would get revenge against the man who brutally had murdered his beloved sister. Hate boiled in his veins. That man would pay with his life, Ran was going to make sure of that. With all his will-power the redhead managed to push aside his thoughts and headed towards his horse. For someone who hadn't felt care or anything close to it for years Ran held a lot of affection for the white mare. His body and mind needed to love and care for someone and Honey was the answer to who. Pale slender fingers ran through her thick mane as soft words spilled from Ran's lips. They didn't mean anything really, they were just sounds of endearment. He looked into the mare's big brown eyes and almost smiled. Those chocolate orbs were so warm and kind, just like Ken's. Ran winced and shook his head. What the hell was that? How had the brunette been able to sneak into his thoughts? The redhead gritten his teeth. Ken was a man, a man who had kicked his ass just a few hours ago. Since when did he find men interesting? Ran had no answers to that. Okay so he had never really looked at women but then he had never looked at men either.
"Hey um eh Red." Ran turned around and gave a lanky blonde a stoic glance.
"Hai," he answered before he could stop himself.
"Huh?" The redhead muttered to himself. Because his mother had been Japanese he had picked up some bad habits when he talked.
"Yes," Ran corrected himself and glanced at the blonde again.
"Ah okay, Tin-pot wants to talk to us."
"I'll be right there."
"What's your name again?" the blonde asked with a grin on his face.
"Aya."
"So Aya, what kind of language was that you used earlier?" A brief shadow of confusion flashed across Ran's bland face.
"What do you mean earlier?"
"You were mumbling to your horse," Yoji explained and nodded to Honey. The redhead groaned inside. He tended to switch to japanese when he spoke to the mare but he hadn't thought anyone could hear him.
"Aa, it's japanese," he answered unwillingly.
"You don't look Japanese," the blonde said thoughtfully and ran his green gaze up and down Ran. No he didn't look Japanese and he was thankful for that, life was hard enough since he still carried his mother's family name.
"Hn," he grunted like he usually did when he didn't have anything to say or didn't want to answer. Before Yoji could ask him anything else Ran walked away.
Ken was relaxed as he sat in the saddle and looked at Tin-pot. The man was explaining the dangers of being a rider for the Pony Express but the brunette wasn't paying attention. He didn't reallly care as long as he had something to do. His brown eyes moved from Tin-pot to the small blonde. Omi was a mystery to him. Someone had beaten the kid badly and it made Ken so angry. It was one thing to get into a fight but something told him that whoever it was that had beaten Omi he had been a whole lot bigger than the slender blonde. He had tried to talk to the kid but it was a dead end for now. Just after supper he had made the mistake of touching Omi's shoulder and the jumpy blonde had almost gone through the roof. His eyes moved and landed on Yoji instead. Yoji was without a doubt a playboy, shallow, probably not too bright and so full of himself it was a damn wonder he could tear himself away from the mirror. Ken frowned at himself, he wasn't being fair to the lanky blonde. Actually if he was honest Yoji seemed to be a lot of fun even if he was a bit self-centered. Moving on, the brunette muttered to himself and set his chocolate gaze on Aya. Now there was another mystery. Aya was rude, cold, beautiful and a complete bastard. Never in his life had Ken met someone like the redhead. Something had definitely crawled up Aya's ass and died, that was if anything else could fit along with the stick that was so obviously buried there. So if he knew all those things then why did he still find himself drawn to the redhead? Ken frowned to himself. He would have to make sure he stayed clear of Aya or things would get ugly. What he really wanted was to pound the redhead into the ground, Ken just wasn't sure what kind of pounding he had in mind. Perhaps it would be so much more interesting if Aya was pounding him into the ground. Ken scowled and tore his eyes from the tempting redhead.
Omi shuddered when he felt Ken's eyes on him. He really wanted to talk to the brunette but he just couldn't get anything out. Earlier he had almost jumped out of his skin when Ken had placed a hand on his shoulder and he was so ashamed of that. It was just that hands on his body usually meant that he was about to get another beating. Omi closed his eyes and pushed aside the memories. His uncle couldn't hurt him anymore! Carefully he opened his eyes again and glanced at Yoji. The lanky blonde looked so good and the worst part was that he knew it. If it was one thing Omi had learnt in his life it was that beautiful people usually only were nice as long as they weren't aware of their looks and Yoji was most definitely aware of how he looked. The young blonde sighed sadly. He was surrounded by three strong men who seemed to fear nothing while he feared everything. Well that wasn't exactly true… When he had looked a bit more serious into Yoji's eyes he had seen a shadow of sadness there, it was the same with the redhead. Behind Aya's cold mask was hurt, loss perhaps. And Ken? Something told Omi that the one who wore the best mask was the brunette. Unlike the Aya's mask the one Ken wore seemed so cassual that most people probably didn't think twice about it. But he had seen the scars on the brunette's back and the pain in his eyes when Yoji asked about them. Maybe they all wore their masks and had scars inside?
Ken kept his eyes locked on the ground. Every damn time he looked up his face was turned towards Aya. The bland look in that beautiful face enerved him so much. What secrets did the redhead try to hide? What kind of past haunted him in his dreams? Ken shuddered. He knew all there was to know about hiding things, fighting against ghosts from the past. After all he did it every day and night. As soon as he fell asleep the whistling sounds of lashes filled his ears until he could hear nothing else. Over and over again his friend brought the cruel thing down on his back while he laughed. Used correctly that kind of whip could rip your head off but used with cruelty it ripped your heart and soul straight out of your body. The brunette swallowed and tried to push the memories away. This was no time to think about him, his friend, Kase. All the warning signs had been there, flashing that Kase was not one to trust but Ken had ignored them stubbornly and he had paid dearly for that mistake. The scars on his back were a map of humiliation and betray, a tatoo that kept on reminding him that he shouldn't trust others. Ken had innocence, he could be naïve but he wasn't stupid, at least he had thought he wasn't. Kase had used his trust to ruin him and his family. The brunette winced and placed a shaky hand on Raisin's spotted coat. It was with that hand he had, had… Ken shook his head and pushed back the tears. No he wouldn't think about this now!
Yoji had his grin firmly placed on his lips when he glanced over to the petit blonde next to him. Who could hurt someone so defencless so badly? Omi looked so fragile and even though Yoji had only spoken to him once he could tell that the small blonde didn't have a mean bone in his body. What kind of bastard had put the fear and sadness in those big blue eyes? The lanky blonde wanted to know, why he had no idea though. He wondered if Omi suffered from nightmares too. With a sigh Yoji rolled himself a cigarette and lit it. The scars the lanky blonde had inside were probably diffrent than the ones most people had, or maybe they were the same? He had known love once. Once upon a time he had been happy but a careless action had ripped that love right from his hands. An innocent little bite was all it had taken. Yoji closed his green eyes and swallowed down the hurt and guilt. Two years ago he had shot his own girlfriend to death. Her face visited him every night and had forced him to seek comfort in other women's arms but it wasn't the same. Even when he had his body pressed to another's he still saw the manic look in her face, the foam that dripped from her mouth as she clawed away at her skin spotting the dirty floor with blood, her blood. And then the begging, the pained cries that pleaded him to shoot her, to take away the agony that raced through her sick body. A stray dog was to blame for the downfall of his love. A stray dog infected with rabies. Yoji straightened himself and willed away the memories. Again his trade marked grin slid into place. He was a playboy, women were drawn to him like bees to honey and he didn't have a care in the world. That was who he was… on the outside at least.
~TBC~
Okay I know Yoji is a bit weird here but when I wrote this I had just gone through a lot of pictures of him and it struck me how sad his eyes look a lot of times. I'll be honest I don't really like Yoji *hangs head in shame* But after seeing that sadness there I decided to rewrite his character completely. What's said about him in the first chapter still goes but this is his past.
And if you haven't noticed it yet this will most likely turn into a Ran/Ken, Yoji/Omi fic somewhere along the way. Usually I don't like to have more than one pairing but Yoji's sad green eyes in that pic *points* made me feel bad *sniffles* So I'm gonna try to get him together with poor Omi. Btw, Omi's uncle needs to have his kneecaps busted *grr* I hate ppl who hit children!!! *ARGH* Gomen I got carried away again didn't I?
Keeshe : Updating fast is easy all you need is a lot of cigarettes, insomnia and twisted mind *L* I would be deadly slow on the updates if I ever got to sleep *grr* And thanks for you reviews *glomps* Ja/Atsureki
