Disclaimers: I own Tei. I own Agumi. I don't own Weiss, but if I did, I bet I'd have a lot more fun ; ). There's my schpiel.

Weiss Season III

Episode One:

Family Quarrel

"What do you mean, 'our men never got through'?" yelled Hirhoto Agumi, slamming his hands down on his desk. The head of Kritiker, he was a very professional-looking man in a tidy dark gray business suit and a black tie. He'd been needing to get rid of the organization's vigilantes for almost three months now, but hadn't managed on account of the goddamned woman they'd picked up.

Rex flinched. "The psychic. She must've sensed them coming and alerted the others. That's what those types do, you know."

"How? How was she able to? We gassed their house to knock them out! How did she sense them, how did they wake up and kill them if they were unconscious?"

"Listen, this next mission should break her. We found her father, and we'll send them to kill him. She'll lose it, and we can post our guards in to take out the boys and catch her. Then we won't have any more of those problems, okay?"

Agumi glared at her. Stupid blue-haired wench.

Outside the door, a handsome, chocolate-haired young man took a deep, shuddering breath. They were planning to kill Weiss on account of some new girl? Or did it go deeper than that? He felt like his internal organs had melted, and he wanted to go and vomit, or shoot his boss with his crossbow…

But his mind never could stop working. Rex and Agumi couldn't be the only ones who knew about this, though. And Omi was one of the greatest hackers ever seen. That was what he did for Kritiker, so why couldn't he do it to Kritiker? Before the blue-haired secretary could leave the room, Omi ducked into the men's room before sneaking back to his office. His computer sat there on his desk, waiting for his commands…

Yoji Kudou sat on the couch in the house that included Koneko no Sumi Ie, the all-too-popular bishonen-run flower shop. He was too busy smoking a cigarette to care when his fellow assassin, Aya Fujimiya, came rushing down the stairs, followed closely by Persia's secretary, Rex. Ken Hidaka heard the noise through his bedroom door, apparently, and stuck his head out, the rest of his body following when he saw whom it was.

"Where's Tei?" sneered Rex, giving everyone a stare to make sure they knew exactly what she thought of the other woman as she lit a cigarette. Aya gave her a dirty look and opened the back door, stepping out into the alleyway and letting the door thump behind him. A moment later, he emerged with Tei behind him, the young woman's workout clothes soaked with sweat as she slid her blades into their thigh holsters.

"Yeah?" she said in a faintly breathless, husky voice that spoke of her half-American origins, a frown creasing her pale forehead as she looked around. "Mission, eh?"

Rex gave her an unpleasant look. "This is a particularly low-profile one. A major corporate businessman has been reportedly working closely with several drug kingpins, embezzling funds from his own companies to run the largest drug ring in Tokyo." She began passing information packets out to the four members of Weiss.

Ken paged through the papers, staring at the photograph provided. "He looks… kinda familiar. Any relatives?" he asked, looking up at the blue-haired secretary.

She shook her head. "His wife died almost twenty years ago in childbirth."

"And the kid?"

"A girl. He left her with his brother until she was six, then had her flown to Tokyo, where he raised her himself for two years."

"Just two years?" asked Yoji with a frown.

"She ran away from home. Never heard from afterwards. She is presumed dead, and shouldn't concern you."

Tei snorted in a derogatory fashion that only an American woman could. She hadn't even picked up her packet yet. "Yeah, yeah, so what's his name?"

"Mamoru Honokaa," snapped Rex, taking a drag from her cigarette and blowing the smoke in the black-haired girl's general direction. Of course it didn't make it across the room, but it was the thought that counted, right?

Yoji heard a sharp intake of breath from the corner and looked over to where Aya and Tei stood. The redhead was frowning faintly, looking at the photograph studiously, but the brunette woman had a faintly shocked expression on her face, her fists clenched. He raised his eyebrows, but withheld any comments for the time being.

"You're all in?"

"Hai, hai," muttered Ken absently, making a dismissive gesture in Rex's direction.

She rolled her eyes and blew smoke into his face, this time. "Good. We want him down tonight, because he's going to be overseeing a major shipment of cocaine tonight in a warehouse downtown. The address and timetable are among your files. Be there!"

Yoji shook his head as she left the room at a brisk walk, heels clattering along the stairs, and then turned to look at Tei. Blood was trickling down her fingers from her palms, where her nails were digging into the skin.

"You okay, there, Tei-kun?"

"I'm fine," she said tightly, snatching her packet and stalking into her room.

Ken looked at his reflection in the mirror and let a faint grin cross his lips. When the temperamental ninja girl had first joined the team, her cold demeanor and cynical attitude had reminded them of Aya from the early days. But as months passed, they learned to like her, certainly to trust her—and Ken, the metal-head of the group, gladly introduced her to his own music, which suited her personality. Dir en Grey never left her CD player nowadays. The leather-clad, combat-booted, knife-toting ninja girl had proven to be something of a foil for all of them, he reflected, and she had opened their eyes to a lot of things they'd never noticed.

Their work clothes had changed, as they were wont to do, when the team did. Omi had left Weiss to join Kritiker's higher ranks, and they'd completely lost touch with him. Ken, who'd always considered the younger man to be his best friend, at least after Kase—was particularly hurt. Barely a month after his disappearance, they'd met Tei and she had joined them, and soon after, their Victorian-influenced trenchcoats were exchanged for leather jackets and rock-style outfits.

Ken wore a bulletproof vest under a leather jacket and a pair of loose-fitting jeans over his combat boots. He kept his longish hair back under a black bandanna, and wore fingerless gloves with his bugnuks. He had to admit, when Tei first insisted that he wear combat boots ("Yeah, right, a kid with bugnuks on stealth?") he had resisted. But since she and Yoji were their stealth operatives, it made sense for him to wear heavy shoes. It gave him an edge in kicks, and on those rare occasions that he had to leap through windows (why was he always the one jumping through windows, anyway?), they were especially handy.

"Aw, thinking about me, Ken-kun?" said a cynical voice from the doorway. Ninja Girl was leaning in a deceptively casual pose against the frame, not yet in her jacket, so the motion raised her shirt up and accented her nicely muscled stomach. Pretty as she might've been, Ken did not feel attracted to Tei, who was somewhere between trained killing machine and experiment gone wrong—who knew? He thought of her more as a sister, and that really helped, seeing as she was a mild telepath.

"How did you guess?" he asked dryly, turning to grin at her.

"The loving adoration in your eyes. Come on, move your ass," she said, turning and wandering into the main room, where she sat carelessly on the coffee table and began to scratch at it with one of her Sais.

"Hey! I paid for that stupid table! You can't cut it up like that!" yowled Aya, attempting to snatch the knife from her.

She yawned and avoided him deftly, slipping her Sai into its sheath. "I'd give you five yen for it. If I were drunk."

Aya muttered something about mouthy women and Yoji came out of his room, looking tired, but ready. The blonde's wardrobe was the least affected by the newcomer, retaining a bare chest and open jacket.

"I can beat the crap outta you, dumbass," retorted Tei,

Yoji yawned, flopping onto the couch. "Are we gonna go?"

Tei looked at him, sighing. "Get up and we will, genius."

Aya, behind her, rolled his eyes and gave her a gentle, friendly push—as she was leaning over to smack Yoji one. She lost balance completely, reaching behind her to snatch his collar as she toppled over on Yoji. The three of them lay there, tangled up, for a moment, while Ken laughed.

"I feel left out, you guys!"

"Join—and—you—die!" grunted Yoji, who had the weight of a thin but muscular female and a tall, strong man combined on top of him.

"Get off, Aya!" grumbled Tei, shoving the redhead off of her and rolling to one knee on the floor. "See what happens when you're lazy, Yoji?"

Everyone grumbled for a moment, getting into battle-mode.

"Your car, Yoji. It's faster," said Aya, grabbing his katana and heading for the door. It was established that it was mission time, and now the leader was all business. He looked at Ken, who was helping the black-haired woman to her feet, despite her struggles. "You guys taking the bike?"

"Hai."

"Can't this piece of crap go any faster?" growled Tei into Ken's ear.

He sighed. She had never been so anxious to get to a mission before. "It wouldn't be very safe," he explained for the millionth time.

"Fuck safe."

"I know you didn't mean that."

"I know I did, moron," she growled.

Her tone was faintly more serious than it needed to be, and Ken suppressed a shiver as he sped up. Like he could put some distance between the two of them, although she was sort of attached to his vehicle. They pulled up to the warehouse before things could become any more awkward and hopped off the bike.

Tei, whose telepathy allowed her to sense where minds were, or to hone in on individual ones with concentration and 'listen in,' was an excellent tool for reconnaissance. Once inside the building, she could 'sense out' everyone in a two-hundred-foot radius. It was very, very handy.

The docking bay was where everything was supposed to go down. Ken and Yoji took a circle around the edge, killing off a few guards, while Aya went to the dock and cut off the supply line. (Pun intended?) Just as Honokaa realized what was going on, a silhouetted female form stepped in from the next room, a Sai in each hand with blood dripping from the blades. Silence fell as she stepped into the light, revealing pale skin, glowing purple eyes, and purple-streaked black hair.

"Did you miss me, Honored Father?" spat out the woman as she walked towards the businessman.

"T-Tesu?" he stammered. "Is that you?"

"I lost that name when I was eight and you said that Master Hajji could keep me if he paid you a bit," she replied, her tone bitter and menacing.

The men of Weiss had frozen, as had everyone else, around the 'Honored Father' part, and now they were staring at the pair of them in shock. So when she lunged suddenly, no one had time to react, much less the two bodyguards on either side of him. She yanked the blades from their throats as they fell to the floor, standing in front of her father—her father? – with burning hatred in her glowing amethyst eyes.

"You know, the irony is, if you'd bothered to treat me as a human being—as your daughter—I never would have run off to become a ninja. And I never would have received the training that made me what I am today. Do you know what I am today, Father? Do you know why I'm here?" she asked. Though her voice started calm and even, it broke into angry, half-hysterical yelling as she went on.

"To—to get revenge on me?" he whispered, terrified.

She laughed a harsh, bitter laugh. "I hadn't known a thing about you until I was hired to kill you, Daddy. I'm here to assassinate you." Her arms stretched open as she prepared her attack, but there they paused, hesitated, for a brief second.

Ken realized what she was about to do and he dove forward, but it was too late. The Sais flashed in, driving through either side of his neck until the blades stabbed into her opposite wrists. Ken's bugnuks grazed his back, causing no real harm, just added pain.

"Tesu—you—don't n—" he gasped, as the horrified woman yanked out her blades to catch him in her arms, staggering under the weight. She knelt down slowly, lowering him to the ground and shutting his eyes with her blood-covered fingers, streaking the red liquid across his face.

"What don't I know, Father?" she asked softly. Everything was silent as she knelt there, hair curtaining her pale face, and stared at her blood-soaked hands and wrists, which were illuminated by the eerie light in her eyes.

Aya was the first to go over to her, gathering her Sais up and kneeling behind her to slide them into their sheaths. He put his head over her shoulder and wrapped his arms around her abdomen, holding her and rocking her gently. She didn't react. Didn't move, didn't try to castrate or kill him. A few moments later, Ken and Yoji came over, to tell them it was time to go. The wail of a police siren got them all on their feet, but Tei seemed to have lost that sparkle of life, seemed to be almost catatonic as Yoji gripped her bleeding wrist and dragged her along to disappear in the shadows.

The purple glow behind her eyes faded as they rolled up into her head and she fainted, collapsing against Yoji, who caught her and scooped her up so that they could run off, cursing her blood loss.

"Son of a bitch! We left witnesses!" cried Ken, as he suddenly realized it.

In Yoji's arms, Tei stirred and moaned. "No… four… erased memories," she whispered, before dropping off again.

"Probably better she's out," muttered the blonde man, shifting her around a bit as they snuck to his car. "Aya, you coming with me or going with Ken?"

Aya wrinkled his nose at the motorbike. He really hated that thing.

"Go with Tei," said Ken gently, patting his friend's shoulder. "She needs you more than I do."

Aya's cheeks got a tiny bit more color in them as he took the unconscious woman from Yoji and climbed into the passenger seat, setting her in his lap and putting his arms around her waist. Yoji looked over at them and smirked before he pressed his foot down on the gas pedal and they sped off.

Aya remembered when they'd first met Tei. She was a beautiful female ninja, trained in the most ancient assassin art in the world. The first time they saw her, she had been assigned to kill the same man they were assigned to—but for very different reasons. She'd been pumped full of drugs to the point where she didn't notice the gunshot wound in her shoulder until she couldn't use that arm. That was how Hidden Flame, the assassin team that Weiss had been sent to destroy barely a week later, had controlled her.

Tei had been recovered from the ruins when Aya had gone to free prisoners, only to discover the sole cell was occupied by the Mind Mistress of the Hidden Flame, shivering and sweating in withdrawal from the mind-control drug, her clothing torn and dirty with sweat, blood, and less savory bodily fluids, her wounded shoulder festering.

He'd felt an instant compassion for the broken woman and had slashed her chains off, taking her with them with a look that brooked no arguments. It had been difficult in the beginning. No one could sleep because her nightmares, which were some of the most hideous constructs known to man, got projected to everyone in the shop. The first night, when Yoji woke up convinced he'd been raped and tortured by half the men in Japan, there had been a horrible fight about whether or not they'd keep her. Aya pointed out that they couldn't just throw out someone who'd actually lived those dreams, and Yoji had said fine, but he wasn't going to sleep there until things were under control.

That left Aya and Ken taking turns with caring for her. The first time Aya tried to hold her after she'd awakened from a nightmare, she had attacked him with blind panic. It was only the fact that she was so weak from her withdrawal and her infected wound that he was able to hold her down and calmly explain to her that he wanted to help her and make her better.

The experience of bringing Tei back to life had been nearly as trying for him and Ken—and even Yoji, once the nightmares were brought under control—as it had for the young woman.

Now, as he watched her suddenly fragile form sleep, it occurred to him that he'd never really wanted to leave her side at any point, even at the worst times, and he tenderly brushed a few strands of her dark black-and-purple hair from her pale face. Her wrists had gotten stabbed fairly badly, but they'd bandaged them and the bleeding had stopped. She would be okay, physically.

He had laid her down on her bed, stripping the leather jacket off of her shoulders and removing the steel-toed boots, not particularly wanting to get kicked by those when she woke up. Her feet on their own were bad enough.

He cupped her face in his hands for a moment, lowering his lips towards hers… and he stopped, a breath away. She wasn't ready for it. She still answered her bedroom door with a Sai in hand, ready to kill anyone intent on hurting her in any way. And when she slept, she booby-trapped the door so that any intruder was knocked unconscious loudly enough to awaken her.

He was so absorbed in his thoughts that he didn't notice when her thick-lashed, black-lined eyes fluttered slightly, and cracked open the tiniest bit. But he did notice when a questioning hand moved up to his face, touching his cheek lightly.

"Aya? Is—is that you?" she murmured sleepily, her lips so close to his that he could feel an electric tingle as they moved.

"T-Tei? Are you, uh, awake?" he stammered, feeling his face flush under her palm.

"Am I?" she asked with a sleepy smile, her hand falling away limply.

He swallowed down a lump of nervousness in his throat as she closed her eyes and reached up to touch his lips with her fingers, which, slender as they were, barely fit between their mouths. What was wrong with her? Usually, she slept away headaches like the one she probably had from erasing a bunch of memories. Her fuzzy, vague telepathy shouldn't have been able to do that. Sure, she'd slept for several hours, but she'd never done anything like that in the time he'd known her. By rights, she should be out for nearly two days.

Add to that the fact that she was smiling in a soft, sweet, almost loving way, and Aya was convinced that she must have been having some mild hallucinatory aftereffect from her exertions. He didn't know what to do—let it go on to who knew what, or get out of there as fast as he could.

"Aya, what's going on in there?" shouted a familiar voice, followed by a knock on the door.

The redhead fought down a wave of panic, even though Tei's eyes had closed again, and sat up, away from her and the warmth of their intimate pose.

"Is everything okay? You've been in there for almost two hours!"

Aya thought quickly as he looked at the girl, who seemed to have returned to her completely unconscious state, and lifted her body around to put it under the covers, yanking her leather assassin top away and struggling to pull a tee shirt on her.

"She's fine, Ken! I was just trying to dress her in something better for sleeping in…"

"Can I come in?" asked the younger man, opening the door a crack.

Aya knelt by the bed and flipped the covers aside just as the brunette walked in. "Do you think she's got on— Er… underwear?" he asked, trying not to blush.

"She'd chafe in those leather pants!"

"Well, she's not a boy…"

Ken flushed and smacked his forehead. "You know, I never wanted to think about Tei's underwear. Can't we just leave the pants on her?"

"No! She'll be uncomfortable!"

The former athlete rolled his eyes. "I'll turn around, you check, and then I'll run out of the room at top speed?"

Though that would have suited Aya just fine, he pretended to grumble. "Why do I always have to take care of her when it comes to stuff like this?"

Ken smirked. An expression Aya hadn't thought he possessed. "Because you enjoy it, whereas I just enjoy teasing you two about it."

"Guess what I just learned from the Internet, Ken?"

"I really would rather not hear about your porn sites, Aya," sighed the other man as he walked towards the door.

Aya held out his hand and extended his middle finger. "It's American for 'fuck you.'"

Yoji chose that minute to walk by and stop, staring at them. He shook his head, some of his growing-out blonde hair falling into his eyes. "You know, what goes on behind closed doors is really not what we want you to tell us about, Aya. Especially considering that, since we all know Tei, she'd castrate us for listening to your kinky habits."

Aya threw his hands up in disgust. "Just go away, both of you! I'll take care of our wounded, sleeping psychic while you two talk about… whatever it is you talk about! Obviously, I'm the only responsible one here!"

A groan from the bed behind him made everyone stop and turn. Tei was attempting to sit up, clutching her head in one hand.

"That's my tee shirt! Tei-kun, you're not supposed to take my shirts without asking!" yowled Ken, pointing at the Dir en Grey logo that blazed across her chest.

She made the same gesture at him that Aya had made a moment before, wincing at the light from the doorway.

"Did I mention I took an enhancer before I left yesterday?" she muttered to no one in particular. She closed her eyes and flopped back on the bed. "Who's visiting us?"

Ken and Yoji exchanged looks.

"What visitors?"

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