To Steal Your Love pt.10
A/N: all right minna, I need you all to promise me that you wont kill me, I swear this isn't my fault! This chapter is a bit angsty/dramatic but there are still funny little things here and there. Don't blame it on me though, my muse can be very cruel (I don't call him shin for nothing) and he said that this is what I had to do so blame him. And as always, sorry for taking so long. I've given up on any form of schedule on getting things out on time. Hopefully the extreme extra length of this chapter will help make up for the delay a bit though ne? Enjoy the story.
Disclaimer: see previous chapters.
*****
"Mou. where is it?!" the little blond whined, he'd been looking for the school project for over an hour. He didn't want to have to do it at the last minute so he'd started it early and finished it a few days ago. The problem was, now he couldn't remember where he'd put it and it was due tomorrow. After digging through another stack of papers Omi sighed in defeat and plopped down on his bed.
"Okay Omi, think." the boy whispered to himself. "Where did I put it?" suddenly an idea struck him, a couple of month's back he had put up little security cameras around his room, they had been a Christmas gift from Ken and it'd just taken him that long to get them up. But he'd turned them on to automatically record when ever anything was in the room, he could go back to the day when he finished the project and see where he had put it. He smiled wide at the realization and moved over to his computer.
As he began searching through the documents for the ones he was looking for his mind drifted to the events of the past week or so, it certainly had been rather hectic. First discovering Ken and Aya's relationship, then the deal with Yohji and all the things associated with it, and now the strangest thing yet, for the past few days he'd been dreaming of Yohji instead of Ken. He didn't understand it; he'd never felt attracted to the other blond before, and yet all of the sudden he was, the problem was, he still cared about Ken too, and he did really feel like he loved Yohji but at the same time something was telling him that he didn't and it was driving him crazy. It'd been years since he'd felt this confused, he didn't understand his feelings and he really didn't like it.
He shook his head to clear his thoughts so he could concentrate on finding the missing school project. He could think about this latter, right now he needed that assignment or he'd have to do it all over again. He began watching the video, fast-forwarding through the unimportant parts watching carefully for where he'd put the paper. There, he had the paper in his hand; it looked to be about 10:30 pm maybe 11:00 he put it into his desk drawer just before crawling into bed.
That was it then, the desk drawer. Again he began searching through the drawer, though he'd looked in it a dozen times before. Sure enough the paper was there, stuck in between some other things, he must've skipped right by it during his previous searches. Smiling and feeling accomplished he turned back to the computer to turn off the camera program, what he saw however, stopped him.
He was sleeping in his bed, looking calm and peaceful, that wasn't so out of the ordinary, but Ken crawling across his bedroom floor -while- he was sleeping was. He turned the speakers on before raising the volume on them and watched Ken trip over his shoes before falling into and ungraceful heap on the floor. He probably would've laughed at his friend's terminal klutziness if he hadn't been so appalled at himself for sleeping through that, even with the small microphones on the security cameras, the crash had been rather loud.
He continued to watch as Ken carefully looked at his own sleeping form to see if he was still asleep or not then upon discovering that he was moved carefully over to the bed and pulled something out of his pocket. He looked closer at the item still having a difficult time figuring out what it was when he realized that Ken was saying something. Turning up the volume further he listened carefully watching as keen began to swing what ever it was over Omi's head.
"You are already sleeeeeeeping.Veeeerrryy much sleeeeepppiiiing. you will believe every thing I tell youuuuu, because it's aaaaaaallll truuuuuuue." The Ken in the video whispered. He watched himself whisper back, "Truuuuue."
Omi blinked in confusion, what on earth was he doing?
"Omi, you do not love Ken, you only like Ken, like you like your friends. Who you really love is Yohji. Say it Omi, tell me who you love."
"Yohji. kun."
Omi swallowed hard, he couldn't believe what he was seeing or hearing. He finally realized what Ken was trying to do, he was trying to hypnotize Omi, and it was working too. One of his best friends, the person he was -in love with- was trying to brain wash him; change the very person that he was. This couldn't be happening, but there it was, right in front of him. He was watching the brunette do it. A tear slid slowly down Omi's cheek, followed by another and another as he watched the rest of the scene play out with dull eyes.
Just as the video finished, and the Ken in the video snapped his fingers and left the room, some one knocked on his door. Three knocks and it slowly opened, Ken's Head popping in.
"Omi? Dinner's ready, why don't you come down and eat?" the brunette asked. Omi didn't respond just continued staring blankly at the image of himself sleeping on the computer screen.
"Omi?" Ken asked again, worry creeping into his voice. This time Omi did turn around.
"How could you Ken?" He asked quietly staring at the boy in front of him, tears cascading slowly down his cheeks. Ken didn't have to ask, he some how knew what his best friend was talking about, yet all he could do was stare back at the tear stained face and watery sapphire eyes.
*****
It had been two days. Two days since Omi had found the video of Ken hypnotizing him. Two days since they had argued, cried, and screamed at each other. Two days, forty-eight hours, two thousand eight hundred eighty minutes, since Omi had stopped talking to everyone in Weiss.
If Ken spoke to him, he ignored the brunette; he acted as if he didn't even exist. If Aya or Yohji spoke to him, he would reply only with nods, shrugs, or shakes of his head. This didn't stop them from trying to get him to speak, but nothing they tried worked. They didn't know what to do, nothing like this had ever happened before and they didn't know how to deal with it.
On top of all of this, Omi wasn't the only one angry with Ken. Yohji too had become very upset with the brunette when he found out why the smaller blonde was so acting so hurt. Though he still spoke to the x-goalie, he was upset at him for messing with the feelings of the youngest member of their team, and he was very vocal about it.
*****
Aya, Ken and Yohji sat around the kitchen the argument that had been nearly constant in the house the past two days being continued once again over breakfast. Yohji saying that Ken had no right to screw with Omi's feelings the way that he had and Ken and Aya arguing that Yohji and Omi had been doing the same to them not a week prior.
"And did you like it? Did you enjoy having you're feelings toyed with?!" The blonde asked in a harsh yet quiet voice.
"Of course not." Ken hissed bitterly. He knew far to well where this conversation was going.
"Then why would you do it to Omi? He'd already apologized to you. You'd already told him you'd give him another chance. Why would you turn around and do something like that to him?" Yohji replied.
"It seemed like a good idea at the time Yohji." Ken said turning his head to look at the wall rather then his companions.
"It seemed like a. How could it have seemed like a good idea?! How could BRAIN WASHING your 'best friend' be a good idea?!" Yohji asked incredulously, his voice growing louder as he spoke.
"I didn't brain wash him!" The brunette snapped. "I was TRYING to help!"
"How is fucking with his feelings helping!?" Yohji demanded. "He was hurting enough from your rejection! Then you pull crap like this?!"
"That was the thing Yohji! He was hurting! He's my best friend! I couldn't stand to see him hurt like that! Even after what he did to me! I didn't want to see him sad so I thought that maybe if we could get you and him together then neither of you would hurt so much!" Ken confessed. Yohji just stared at him in shock for a moment before glancing at Aya.
"Is this true Aya?" He questioned quietly.
"It's true." Aya whispered in reply, looking almost ashamed as he stared at the ground. "Neither of us could handle seeing the two of you in pain, you both hid it well but we've lived with you for years, no mask could hide your pain."
"We wanted you to be happy so we decided to return your little favor of playing cupid, only to try to get you two together instead. It's kind of like Omi said, we wanted you to be happy, and since we couldn't give you that happiness, we wanted you to find it in each other." Ken continued softly. "I had no idea that this would happen. I swear our intentions were good, we never meant to hurt either of you, any more then you meant to hurt us."
"." Yohji stared at the ground silently. He really should've known, they were his friends; they would never intentionally hurt him or Omi. But they had, his thoughts just kept coming back to that, Ken had hurt Omi and in doing so he had hurt Yohji as well.
In the few days after Ken had hypnotized Omi and before Omi had discovered what had happened, Yohji had grown quite hopeful that the boy might return his quickly growing feelings for him. That morning he had gotten up so early because of the dreams, he hadn't told any one, but the dreams had been of Omi. He had been very confused by these dreams at first but the more he thought about it, the more he realized that he did care greatly for the younger blonde. When he found out that Ken had in fact hypnotized Omi he had been very upset, not only because Ken had hurt the boy he was falling for, but also because he realized that what he believed to be his affections being returned was actually no more then spell induced infatuation. Then he thought that maybe his own affections had been brought on by Ken's so called magic, but after thinking about it, he realized, Ken hadn't hypnotized him.
The three of them stood there in silence, unsure of what to say to each other at this point. The sudden sound of retreating footsteps however caused them all to look towards the kitchen door. Ken rushed quickly to the kitchen door leaning his head out of it just in time to see Omi dart out the front door, the door slamming closed behind him informing them all quite clearly that he had heard their conversation, and wasn't pleased by it.
*****
Omi ran quickly to the park, he had to get away from that house, from them, from HIM. How could Ken think that he could just change the way a person felt like that? Did he not take Omi's feelings seriously? Did he believe the emotions Omi knew he felt so strongly; were no more then a childish crush that could be turned another way so easily? Didn't he understand that Omi LOVED him?! Nothing could ever truly change that. Even when hypnotized into feeling affection for Yohji he still knew there was something wrong with what he was feeling. Even then, he had still known in his heart that he loved Ken. Why couldn't the brunette see that? He needed to talk to Nagi, NOW. Nagi was his best friend, and right now; he REALLY needed his best friend.
*****
"DAMNIT!" Ken emphasized the curse by banging his fist harshly into the wall before turning around to lean against it, hanging his head.
"He heard us." Yohji stated flatly before glancing out the kitchen window. Ken responded with a withering glare that clearly stated 'well duh.' and Aya merely sighed.
"We gotta go find him." Ken said seriously as he started towards the door, he was stopped however by Yohji's hand on his upper arm. Ken glanced at Yohji questioningly waiting for an explanation.
"That may not be such a good idea Ken." The blond argued.
"Why not?" Ken asked as he pulled his arm free of Yohji's grasp.
"We should give him time to straighten things out in his own mind before we go hunting for him." Yohji replied.
"But-"
"Yohji's right Ken, we should give him a little time first." Aya conceded.
"But what if he-"
"Ken, Omi's a smart kid, he wont do anything dangerous or stupid, don't worry, have a little faith in him ne?" Yohji interrupted. Ken sighed folding his arms and looked away from them both again, his concern obvious on his features. Aya came up and hugged him gently from behind, resting his cheek against Ken's shoulder.
"Even if we did go look for him, what would you say to him when we found him? And who says he'd even listen anyway? He hasn't been very responsive the past few days." Aya whispered softly. Ken sighed again his arms dropping to his sides in an acknowledgement of defeat.
"Alright, I'll wait, for now." He muttered softly.
*****
Omi sat next to Nagi on their bench in the park, Nagi's jacket was resting on his shoulders and his head was resting against Nagi's shoulder, his once tearstained cheeks washed clean by the soft rain that had begun a short time before. Nagi moved his arm and hugged his friend closer to him as he thought about the story Omi had just told him. He had been rather surprised when he saw the other boy come dashing towards him. He hadn't been expecting to see anyone else in the park on such a cold cloudy day but there the blonde was, tears falling down his cheeks and not dressed to be out in the cool weather wearing a simple T-shirt and shorts. After Nagi covered the blonde with his own jacket and calmed him down enough that he could speak Omi had told him about the conversation he had overheard from the hallway leading to their kitchen that morning.
Quite frankly Nagi didn't know what to say to the other boy. He would've thought that Omi would've been happy to know that Ken and Aya cared so much for him and Yohji. But Omi wasn't acting happy at all.
"Omi, I don't understand. Why are you so upset about this? I would've thought that you'd be happy," the sable haired boy said softly.
"HAPPY?!" Omi cried incredulously looking up at Nagi with wide eyes. "Why on earth would I be happy?! He thinks my feelings are a JOKE!"
"Ooohhhh." Nagi sighed gently as he leaned back in his chair. "I get it. You're mad that he thought he could change your feelings for him. You think that he thinks that you're feelings aren't genuine."
"Yeah." Omi breathed softly, calming and once again leaning against Nagi's shoulder. Nagi was a good friend; he always understood everything and knew just what to say.
"Let me ask you something Omi," Nagi responded in a hushed voice. "Do you think Ken and Aya's feelings for each other are genuine?" Omi thought about this for a moment before nodding with a soft but sad smile on his face. "But didn't you try to change the way Ken and Aya felt about each other?" Nagi inquired softly. Omi blinked once and his eyes widened as he thought about that. "But that doesn't mean you don't care about them anyway does it? It doesn't mean that you think their feelings aren't as strong as your own right?"
".I see your point," Omi stated quietly after a moment of silence. Nagi smiled softly hugging Omi tighter for a moment.
"I'm sorry to be so harsh Om-"
"No," Omi cut him off "It's okay, I needed to hear that. Thanks Nagi, only a real friend could be so blunt in such a caring way. I'm glad I have you." Nagi just smiled leaning his head back on Omi's again.
"So, feeling any better?" He questioned.
"Actually yeah, I feel a lot better. Thanks again Nagi." Omi replied.
"Any time, what are friends for if not to have them listen to you whine before bashing you over the head with the truth?" Nagi teased.
"And to experiment with." Omi added grinning.
"Oh of course." Nagi agreed nodding his head emphatically.
*****
Yohji rubbed his arm lightly with his free hand trying to banish some of the cold from his limbs, his other hand was holding an umbrella to keep the light rain off him. About an hour before Ken had convinced them that it had been long enough and they should go look for Omi. Yohji still wasn't sure that it was a good idea for Ken or Aya to look for him, he seemed awfully upset at the two of them when he left and there was no telling what would happen if one of the two of them found him and he was still upset.
'All the more reason to make sure I find him first.' Yohji thought to himself as he rounded a corner and was faced with the entrance to the park he and Omi had met Nagi in a few days ago. He stared at the gate for a moment before deciding on a whim to check and see if the younger blond was there.
*****
".Exactly." Omi replied to Nagi with a nod, the two were obviously engaged in a conversation, though about what no one but the two of them knew. Their conversation was interrupted however, by the soft splashing sound of footsteps in the newly formed rain puddles and Omi and Nagi glanced over their shoulders to see Yohji approaching them.
"I better get going Omi." Nagi said to his friend, as he stood then leaned in to whisper into Omi's ear. All Yohji caught from the whisper was something about 'details'. "I'll talk to you latter ok?" Nagi said as he stepped away from the other blue-eyed boy. Omi merely nodded and Nagi walked away, leaving his jacket with his friend.
After a moment of just standing there Yohji glanced down at Omi who looked back up at him with a little half sad smile on his face.
"You just gonna stand there Yohji-kun?" Omi inquired in a semi-sweet voice. Yohji smiled back at him and sat down in Nagi's place wrapping his one arm around Omi's shoulder and holding the umbrella over the two of them.
"I take it Nagi already cheered you up?" Yohji asked gently. Omi sighed with a pleased look on his face and nodded his head a few times before saying,
"He's a good friend. The best."
"I can tell." Yohji replied, a smile on his face as well. "So, did he convince you that Ken and Aya weren't so bad and that you shouldn't hate them?" Omi giggled a little at Yohji's 'oh so subtle' way of finding out information.
"Yes Yohji-kun, he did. I'm not mad anymore, I only hope Ken-kun and Aya- kun aren't mad at me."
"I'm sure they wont be, as long as you start talking to them again that is." Yohji smiled.
"I think I can handle that." Omi replied then looked down appearing somewhat sad. "I don't think I'll ever stop loving Ken though." Omi whispered softly, leaning his head against Yohji's shoulder. Yohji hugged him slightly tighter for a moment.
"I know chibi, I know."
"Does it ever go away? The hurt?" Omi asked his older companion.
"Not entirely." Yohji replied. "But it does lessen, over time you won't even think about it much anymore, it'll still sting every once in a while but you'll be ok, especially as long as Ken's happy. And eventually you'll find someone else to make you happy instead, life will move on, and you'll be fine." Yohji said looking down at Omi with a smile.
"You really think so Yohji-kun?"
"I know so. Now, Lets get you home huh?" Yohji said as he stood and pulled Omi to his feet as well. "Aya will have a fit if you get sick and can't do the missions and Ken'll go all mother-hen on your ass and make you eat that god-awful slop he calls stew." Omi grimaced at the thought of Ken's "stew" and proceeded to quickly lead the way out of the park and towards the koneko. He needed to get warm, and fast.
*****
"Omi!" Ken yelled running over to his younger companion and hugging him tightly before pulling away to inspect the blond at arms length. "Omi you're soaked! You're going to catch a cold! But you're home, so that's ok. Oh Omi where did you go? I'm so sorry, I should never have done that to you, and I'm so sorry Omi!-"
"Ken! Ken! I'm okay. It's okay. I'll live I promise." Omi cut ken off, chuckling slightly at how much Yohji's prediction of "Mother-hen-Ken" came true. Both Yohji and Aya were chuckling slightly as well. Yohji had called Ken and Aya on their cell phones earlier as he and Omi were headed home, telling them that he had found Omi and they were on their way home, and Ken and Aya had headed home immediately arriving before Omi and Yohji had.
"Omi I'm sorry." Ken repeated the words he had said so many times in the past few days and for the first time since their argument Omi responded.
"It's okay Ken-kun, I'm not angry with you any more, that is, as long as you aren't still angry with me." He trailed off.
"I'm not mad Omi," Ken replied smiling then he got a 'serious' look on his face and pointed at the blonde. "But if you get sick I will be. Get upstairs and get out of those wet clothes, into the shower with you." He smiled gently shoving Omi in the general direction of the stairs. A soft clucking, like that of a certain bird, slowly grew louder and filled the room before Omi dashed up the stairs, and Yohji out door, the only one not escaping the 'wrath' of Ken being the one that didn't really want to. And though their lives would never truly be normal, they had at least returned to comfortable. For the time being.
*Owarii*
A/N: ok that's the end. Well actually that's not entirely true, there will yet be an epilogue. And maybe someday a sequel, but not for a long time still. I hope you all liked it. And again I apologize for my lack of frequent updates, what can I say, I'm a lazy ass and writers block is a horrible thing. Well let me know what you thought okay? Meaning review.
A/N: all right minna, I need you all to promise me that you wont kill me, I swear this isn't my fault! This chapter is a bit angsty/dramatic but there are still funny little things here and there. Don't blame it on me though, my muse can be very cruel (I don't call him shin for nothing) and he said that this is what I had to do so blame him. And as always, sorry for taking so long. I've given up on any form of schedule on getting things out on time. Hopefully the extreme extra length of this chapter will help make up for the delay a bit though ne? Enjoy the story.
Disclaimer: see previous chapters.
*****
"Mou. where is it?!" the little blond whined, he'd been looking for the school project for over an hour. He didn't want to have to do it at the last minute so he'd started it early and finished it a few days ago. The problem was, now he couldn't remember where he'd put it and it was due tomorrow. After digging through another stack of papers Omi sighed in defeat and plopped down on his bed.
"Okay Omi, think." the boy whispered to himself. "Where did I put it?" suddenly an idea struck him, a couple of month's back he had put up little security cameras around his room, they had been a Christmas gift from Ken and it'd just taken him that long to get them up. But he'd turned them on to automatically record when ever anything was in the room, he could go back to the day when he finished the project and see where he had put it. He smiled wide at the realization and moved over to his computer.
As he began searching through the documents for the ones he was looking for his mind drifted to the events of the past week or so, it certainly had been rather hectic. First discovering Ken and Aya's relationship, then the deal with Yohji and all the things associated with it, and now the strangest thing yet, for the past few days he'd been dreaming of Yohji instead of Ken. He didn't understand it; he'd never felt attracted to the other blond before, and yet all of the sudden he was, the problem was, he still cared about Ken too, and he did really feel like he loved Yohji but at the same time something was telling him that he didn't and it was driving him crazy. It'd been years since he'd felt this confused, he didn't understand his feelings and he really didn't like it.
He shook his head to clear his thoughts so he could concentrate on finding the missing school project. He could think about this latter, right now he needed that assignment or he'd have to do it all over again. He began watching the video, fast-forwarding through the unimportant parts watching carefully for where he'd put the paper. There, he had the paper in his hand; it looked to be about 10:30 pm maybe 11:00 he put it into his desk drawer just before crawling into bed.
That was it then, the desk drawer. Again he began searching through the drawer, though he'd looked in it a dozen times before. Sure enough the paper was there, stuck in between some other things, he must've skipped right by it during his previous searches. Smiling and feeling accomplished he turned back to the computer to turn off the camera program, what he saw however, stopped him.
He was sleeping in his bed, looking calm and peaceful, that wasn't so out of the ordinary, but Ken crawling across his bedroom floor -while- he was sleeping was. He turned the speakers on before raising the volume on them and watched Ken trip over his shoes before falling into and ungraceful heap on the floor. He probably would've laughed at his friend's terminal klutziness if he hadn't been so appalled at himself for sleeping through that, even with the small microphones on the security cameras, the crash had been rather loud.
He continued to watch as Ken carefully looked at his own sleeping form to see if he was still asleep or not then upon discovering that he was moved carefully over to the bed and pulled something out of his pocket. He looked closer at the item still having a difficult time figuring out what it was when he realized that Ken was saying something. Turning up the volume further he listened carefully watching as keen began to swing what ever it was over Omi's head.
"You are already sleeeeeeeping.Veeeerrryy much sleeeeepppiiiing. you will believe every thing I tell youuuuu, because it's aaaaaaallll truuuuuuue." The Ken in the video whispered. He watched himself whisper back, "Truuuuue."
Omi blinked in confusion, what on earth was he doing?
"Omi, you do not love Ken, you only like Ken, like you like your friends. Who you really love is Yohji. Say it Omi, tell me who you love."
"Yohji. kun."
Omi swallowed hard, he couldn't believe what he was seeing or hearing. He finally realized what Ken was trying to do, he was trying to hypnotize Omi, and it was working too. One of his best friends, the person he was -in love with- was trying to brain wash him; change the very person that he was. This couldn't be happening, but there it was, right in front of him. He was watching the brunette do it. A tear slid slowly down Omi's cheek, followed by another and another as he watched the rest of the scene play out with dull eyes.
Just as the video finished, and the Ken in the video snapped his fingers and left the room, some one knocked on his door. Three knocks and it slowly opened, Ken's Head popping in.
"Omi? Dinner's ready, why don't you come down and eat?" the brunette asked. Omi didn't respond just continued staring blankly at the image of himself sleeping on the computer screen.
"Omi?" Ken asked again, worry creeping into his voice. This time Omi did turn around.
"How could you Ken?" He asked quietly staring at the boy in front of him, tears cascading slowly down his cheeks. Ken didn't have to ask, he some how knew what his best friend was talking about, yet all he could do was stare back at the tear stained face and watery sapphire eyes.
*****
It had been two days. Two days since Omi had found the video of Ken hypnotizing him. Two days since they had argued, cried, and screamed at each other. Two days, forty-eight hours, two thousand eight hundred eighty minutes, since Omi had stopped talking to everyone in Weiss.
If Ken spoke to him, he ignored the brunette; he acted as if he didn't even exist. If Aya or Yohji spoke to him, he would reply only with nods, shrugs, or shakes of his head. This didn't stop them from trying to get him to speak, but nothing they tried worked. They didn't know what to do, nothing like this had ever happened before and they didn't know how to deal with it.
On top of all of this, Omi wasn't the only one angry with Ken. Yohji too had become very upset with the brunette when he found out why the smaller blonde was so acting so hurt. Though he still spoke to the x-goalie, he was upset at him for messing with the feelings of the youngest member of their team, and he was very vocal about it.
*****
Aya, Ken and Yohji sat around the kitchen the argument that had been nearly constant in the house the past two days being continued once again over breakfast. Yohji saying that Ken had no right to screw with Omi's feelings the way that he had and Ken and Aya arguing that Yohji and Omi had been doing the same to them not a week prior.
"And did you like it? Did you enjoy having you're feelings toyed with?!" The blonde asked in a harsh yet quiet voice.
"Of course not." Ken hissed bitterly. He knew far to well where this conversation was going.
"Then why would you do it to Omi? He'd already apologized to you. You'd already told him you'd give him another chance. Why would you turn around and do something like that to him?" Yohji replied.
"It seemed like a good idea at the time Yohji." Ken said turning his head to look at the wall rather then his companions.
"It seemed like a. How could it have seemed like a good idea?! How could BRAIN WASHING your 'best friend' be a good idea?!" Yohji asked incredulously, his voice growing louder as he spoke.
"I didn't brain wash him!" The brunette snapped. "I was TRYING to help!"
"How is fucking with his feelings helping!?" Yohji demanded. "He was hurting enough from your rejection! Then you pull crap like this?!"
"That was the thing Yohji! He was hurting! He's my best friend! I couldn't stand to see him hurt like that! Even after what he did to me! I didn't want to see him sad so I thought that maybe if we could get you and him together then neither of you would hurt so much!" Ken confessed. Yohji just stared at him in shock for a moment before glancing at Aya.
"Is this true Aya?" He questioned quietly.
"It's true." Aya whispered in reply, looking almost ashamed as he stared at the ground. "Neither of us could handle seeing the two of you in pain, you both hid it well but we've lived with you for years, no mask could hide your pain."
"We wanted you to be happy so we decided to return your little favor of playing cupid, only to try to get you two together instead. It's kind of like Omi said, we wanted you to be happy, and since we couldn't give you that happiness, we wanted you to find it in each other." Ken continued softly. "I had no idea that this would happen. I swear our intentions were good, we never meant to hurt either of you, any more then you meant to hurt us."
"." Yohji stared at the ground silently. He really should've known, they were his friends; they would never intentionally hurt him or Omi. But they had, his thoughts just kept coming back to that, Ken had hurt Omi and in doing so he had hurt Yohji as well.
In the few days after Ken had hypnotized Omi and before Omi had discovered what had happened, Yohji had grown quite hopeful that the boy might return his quickly growing feelings for him. That morning he had gotten up so early because of the dreams, he hadn't told any one, but the dreams had been of Omi. He had been very confused by these dreams at first but the more he thought about it, the more he realized that he did care greatly for the younger blonde. When he found out that Ken had in fact hypnotized Omi he had been very upset, not only because Ken had hurt the boy he was falling for, but also because he realized that what he believed to be his affections being returned was actually no more then spell induced infatuation. Then he thought that maybe his own affections had been brought on by Ken's so called magic, but after thinking about it, he realized, Ken hadn't hypnotized him.
The three of them stood there in silence, unsure of what to say to each other at this point. The sudden sound of retreating footsteps however caused them all to look towards the kitchen door. Ken rushed quickly to the kitchen door leaning his head out of it just in time to see Omi dart out the front door, the door slamming closed behind him informing them all quite clearly that he had heard their conversation, and wasn't pleased by it.
*****
Omi ran quickly to the park, he had to get away from that house, from them, from HIM. How could Ken think that he could just change the way a person felt like that? Did he not take Omi's feelings seriously? Did he believe the emotions Omi knew he felt so strongly; were no more then a childish crush that could be turned another way so easily? Didn't he understand that Omi LOVED him?! Nothing could ever truly change that. Even when hypnotized into feeling affection for Yohji he still knew there was something wrong with what he was feeling. Even then, he had still known in his heart that he loved Ken. Why couldn't the brunette see that? He needed to talk to Nagi, NOW. Nagi was his best friend, and right now; he REALLY needed his best friend.
*****
"DAMNIT!" Ken emphasized the curse by banging his fist harshly into the wall before turning around to lean against it, hanging his head.
"He heard us." Yohji stated flatly before glancing out the kitchen window. Ken responded with a withering glare that clearly stated 'well duh.' and Aya merely sighed.
"We gotta go find him." Ken said seriously as he started towards the door, he was stopped however by Yohji's hand on his upper arm. Ken glanced at Yohji questioningly waiting for an explanation.
"That may not be such a good idea Ken." The blond argued.
"Why not?" Ken asked as he pulled his arm free of Yohji's grasp.
"We should give him time to straighten things out in his own mind before we go hunting for him." Yohji replied.
"But-"
"Yohji's right Ken, we should give him a little time first." Aya conceded.
"But what if he-"
"Ken, Omi's a smart kid, he wont do anything dangerous or stupid, don't worry, have a little faith in him ne?" Yohji interrupted. Ken sighed folding his arms and looked away from them both again, his concern obvious on his features. Aya came up and hugged him gently from behind, resting his cheek against Ken's shoulder.
"Even if we did go look for him, what would you say to him when we found him? And who says he'd even listen anyway? He hasn't been very responsive the past few days." Aya whispered softly. Ken sighed again his arms dropping to his sides in an acknowledgement of defeat.
"Alright, I'll wait, for now." He muttered softly.
*****
Omi sat next to Nagi on their bench in the park, Nagi's jacket was resting on his shoulders and his head was resting against Nagi's shoulder, his once tearstained cheeks washed clean by the soft rain that had begun a short time before. Nagi moved his arm and hugged his friend closer to him as he thought about the story Omi had just told him. He had been rather surprised when he saw the other boy come dashing towards him. He hadn't been expecting to see anyone else in the park on such a cold cloudy day but there the blonde was, tears falling down his cheeks and not dressed to be out in the cool weather wearing a simple T-shirt and shorts. After Nagi covered the blonde with his own jacket and calmed him down enough that he could speak Omi had told him about the conversation he had overheard from the hallway leading to their kitchen that morning.
Quite frankly Nagi didn't know what to say to the other boy. He would've thought that Omi would've been happy to know that Ken and Aya cared so much for him and Yohji. But Omi wasn't acting happy at all.
"Omi, I don't understand. Why are you so upset about this? I would've thought that you'd be happy," the sable haired boy said softly.
"HAPPY?!" Omi cried incredulously looking up at Nagi with wide eyes. "Why on earth would I be happy?! He thinks my feelings are a JOKE!"
"Ooohhhh." Nagi sighed gently as he leaned back in his chair. "I get it. You're mad that he thought he could change your feelings for him. You think that he thinks that you're feelings aren't genuine."
"Yeah." Omi breathed softly, calming and once again leaning against Nagi's shoulder. Nagi was a good friend; he always understood everything and knew just what to say.
"Let me ask you something Omi," Nagi responded in a hushed voice. "Do you think Ken and Aya's feelings for each other are genuine?" Omi thought about this for a moment before nodding with a soft but sad smile on his face. "But didn't you try to change the way Ken and Aya felt about each other?" Nagi inquired softly. Omi blinked once and his eyes widened as he thought about that. "But that doesn't mean you don't care about them anyway does it? It doesn't mean that you think their feelings aren't as strong as your own right?"
".I see your point," Omi stated quietly after a moment of silence. Nagi smiled softly hugging Omi tighter for a moment.
"I'm sorry to be so harsh Om-"
"No," Omi cut him off "It's okay, I needed to hear that. Thanks Nagi, only a real friend could be so blunt in such a caring way. I'm glad I have you." Nagi just smiled leaning his head back on Omi's again.
"So, feeling any better?" He questioned.
"Actually yeah, I feel a lot better. Thanks again Nagi." Omi replied.
"Any time, what are friends for if not to have them listen to you whine before bashing you over the head with the truth?" Nagi teased.
"And to experiment with." Omi added grinning.
"Oh of course." Nagi agreed nodding his head emphatically.
*****
Yohji rubbed his arm lightly with his free hand trying to banish some of the cold from his limbs, his other hand was holding an umbrella to keep the light rain off him. About an hour before Ken had convinced them that it had been long enough and they should go look for Omi. Yohji still wasn't sure that it was a good idea for Ken or Aya to look for him, he seemed awfully upset at the two of them when he left and there was no telling what would happen if one of the two of them found him and he was still upset.
'All the more reason to make sure I find him first.' Yohji thought to himself as he rounded a corner and was faced with the entrance to the park he and Omi had met Nagi in a few days ago. He stared at the gate for a moment before deciding on a whim to check and see if the younger blond was there.
*****
".Exactly." Omi replied to Nagi with a nod, the two were obviously engaged in a conversation, though about what no one but the two of them knew. Their conversation was interrupted however, by the soft splashing sound of footsteps in the newly formed rain puddles and Omi and Nagi glanced over their shoulders to see Yohji approaching them.
"I better get going Omi." Nagi said to his friend, as he stood then leaned in to whisper into Omi's ear. All Yohji caught from the whisper was something about 'details'. "I'll talk to you latter ok?" Nagi said as he stepped away from the other blue-eyed boy. Omi merely nodded and Nagi walked away, leaving his jacket with his friend.
After a moment of just standing there Yohji glanced down at Omi who looked back up at him with a little half sad smile on his face.
"You just gonna stand there Yohji-kun?" Omi inquired in a semi-sweet voice. Yohji smiled back at him and sat down in Nagi's place wrapping his one arm around Omi's shoulder and holding the umbrella over the two of them.
"I take it Nagi already cheered you up?" Yohji asked gently. Omi sighed with a pleased look on his face and nodded his head a few times before saying,
"He's a good friend. The best."
"I can tell." Yohji replied, a smile on his face as well. "So, did he convince you that Ken and Aya weren't so bad and that you shouldn't hate them?" Omi giggled a little at Yohji's 'oh so subtle' way of finding out information.
"Yes Yohji-kun, he did. I'm not mad anymore, I only hope Ken-kun and Aya- kun aren't mad at me."
"I'm sure they wont be, as long as you start talking to them again that is." Yohji smiled.
"I think I can handle that." Omi replied then looked down appearing somewhat sad. "I don't think I'll ever stop loving Ken though." Omi whispered softly, leaning his head against Yohji's shoulder. Yohji hugged him slightly tighter for a moment.
"I know chibi, I know."
"Does it ever go away? The hurt?" Omi asked his older companion.
"Not entirely." Yohji replied. "But it does lessen, over time you won't even think about it much anymore, it'll still sting every once in a while but you'll be ok, especially as long as Ken's happy. And eventually you'll find someone else to make you happy instead, life will move on, and you'll be fine." Yohji said looking down at Omi with a smile.
"You really think so Yohji-kun?"
"I know so. Now, Lets get you home huh?" Yohji said as he stood and pulled Omi to his feet as well. "Aya will have a fit if you get sick and can't do the missions and Ken'll go all mother-hen on your ass and make you eat that god-awful slop he calls stew." Omi grimaced at the thought of Ken's "stew" and proceeded to quickly lead the way out of the park and towards the koneko. He needed to get warm, and fast.
*****
"Omi!" Ken yelled running over to his younger companion and hugging him tightly before pulling away to inspect the blond at arms length. "Omi you're soaked! You're going to catch a cold! But you're home, so that's ok. Oh Omi where did you go? I'm so sorry, I should never have done that to you, and I'm so sorry Omi!-"
"Ken! Ken! I'm okay. It's okay. I'll live I promise." Omi cut ken off, chuckling slightly at how much Yohji's prediction of "Mother-hen-Ken" came true. Both Yohji and Aya were chuckling slightly as well. Yohji had called Ken and Aya on their cell phones earlier as he and Omi were headed home, telling them that he had found Omi and they were on their way home, and Ken and Aya had headed home immediately arriving before Omi and Yohji had.
"Omi I'm sorry." Ken repeated the words he had said so many times in the past few days and for the first time since their argument Omi responded.
"It's okay Ken-kun, I'm not angry with you any more, that is, as long as you aren't still angry with me." He trailed off.
"I'm not mad Omi," Ken replied smiling then he got a 'serious' look on his face and pointed at the blonde. "But if you get sick I will be. Get upstairs and get out of those wet clothes, into the shower with you." He smiled gently shoving Omi in the general direction of the stairs. A soft clucking, like that of a certain bird, slowly grew louder and filled the room before Omi dashed up the stairs, and Yohji out door, the only one not escaping the 'wrath' of Ken being the one that didn't really want to. And though their lives would never truly be normal, they had at least returned to comfortable. For the time being.
*Owarii*
A/N: ok that's the end. Well actually that's not entirely true, there will yet be an epilogue. And maybe someday a sequel, but not for a long time still. I hope you all liked it. And again I apologize for my lack of frequent updates, what can I say, I'm a lazy ass and writers block is a horrible thing. Well let me know what you thought okay? Meaning review.