Author's note- I am so sorry that this story has taken me sooooo long to be written. I also apologize for the tremendous amount of time that it took me to fix the formatting. I had to retype the whole story again… must I say more. Sheepish smile. I hope you still enjoy the story! Weiss Kreuz is not of my creation… I just love them so much that I have to write about them!

Blank Slate

Ch. 1 A New Beginning

                Yoji Kudou gave a groan as the incessant knocking at his door finally pierced through his heavy slumber. "Let me die in peace!" He grumbled, knowing fully well that whoever was annoying him would not. But even with that knowledge, Yoji would not give in too easily. His pride wouldn't let him-scratch that-his pounding hangover wouldn't let him. He rolled to his side, one hand grabbing his pillow from underneath his head and pulling it with one sharp jerk. He swallowed hard as a wave of nausea rolled over him and it was a moment before he could move again and stuff the pillow over his head like he had originally planned. There. He sighed, the pillow trick always worked wonders… muffling any sound. Yoji let himself relax again, letting the thudding of his poor brain dim into the background until he was slowly but surely going back to sleep. To hell with whoever was trying to talk to him. They would have to wait until he felt like getting up.

                "That does it." Omi muttered tartly, plainly frustrated by the lack of response from the older man. The least he could do was to acknowledge the knocking. Damn Yoji. Damn his annoying ways! He was making Omi worry about him. Omi took in a breath and kept his temper in check. Taking a step back, he placed the glass of water along with the two pills of Advil to the side. "If this is how it's going to be… I'll use force, Yoji!" He shouted at the still closed door and waited what seemed to be hours but was only in reality two minutes for a possible response. Omi shook his head. "It's a good thing Aya-kun's not home." He muttered to himself imagining the redhead's fury if he had been here. Yoji had not only come in from who knows where early this morning, locking himself in his room the second he got home… he had also missed his afternoon shift, making Ken and Omi work overtime. Finally the two youngest Weiss members had stayed at the shop till closing time. To say the least… not only would the redhead have been furious… but Ken-kun was so angry it had almost been scary. The only reason the man was still sleeping peacefully was because Omi had thought it was only safer to let the brunette walk his anger out. It had helped Omi's argument that Ken actually had to teach the kids soccer today. In his blind rage at the drunk blond, the soccer player had almost forgotten. Almost. With gentle reminding from Omi's part and a promise that Omi would indeed wake Yoji up, Ken had left. Omi sighed… The youngest of the Weiss members reached inside his overall pocket, his hand closing in on one of his darts that he kept on him at all times for the just in case situations. He pulled it out as he went down on one knee and examined it for a minute. The blond haired boy bit his lip in concentration as he started to pick Yoji's lock. For a few minutes nothing happened and then a click startled him into realizing that the door had opened. He huffed yet another sigh, pushing himself back up before going back and getting the glass and painkillers. If only that baka would realize that his nightlife of his was doing more harm than good. All of them had their own ways of dealing with their other side, their other life… the killing one… the one with the haunting memories, screamless terrors and nightmares. Yet only Yoji's way seemed to mess everything up. Not only his life but Omi's, Ken's and Aya's. And it had gotten worse since the whole Neu and Asuka deal. He bit his lip.

                Once again, Omi was thankful that Aya had taken a day off to be with his sister. The redhead was incredibly IMPATIENT when it came to what Aya considered the most useless member of Weiss. No whether what Aya believed was true or not… it didn't greatly affect the fact that Aya would have had absolutely no pity on Yoji's headache had he been in Omi's place. With his foot, he opened the door into further opening and sidled into the room, making sure not to spill as he sidestepped clothes and blankets that had obviously been thrown across the room. Nightmare? Possible.

                Thank god, Omi noted, Yoji had kept some clothes on. He settled the glass on the nightstand and decided that the pillow would be the first thing to go. Then if the older man still refused to be woken up, it would either be tickling or pouring the water down his back. "Wake up Yoji!" Omi stated cheerfully as he yanked the pillow off the other man's head. "It's already six o'clock in the evening and Aya's going to be home soon."

                "Don't care…leave me alone." The man mumbled, his long arm waving around crazily to search for something to cover his head with.

                "I have aspirin and water for you." Omi stated patiently, skipping out of the hand's reach. "If  you don't get up though, I'll be forced to do something mean."

                "Cruel. That's what you are. Cruel chibi. Go away." Omi counted to ten and checked his watch. 6:12, 45 seconds. Ken was due back any minute and Aya…

                "Sumimasen Yoji-kun." Omi continued as sweetly as he could. "Its either me being mean, or Aya and Ken. Believe me… I think you'll thank me later." He grabbed the glass of water and tilted his wrist letting the content spill all over the older man's face and bare chest. "Sumimasen." He muttered again over the half screech-half growl. "I put ice cubes in it this time." Then with that piece said, Omi spun away and ran for his life. Now that Yoji was awake… he was in danger! He slammed the door shut behind him and ran down the stairs, bumping into Aya as his foot connected with the last step. "ARGH!" He yelped as the impact made both of them fall. Omi rolled away from Aya, scrambling to get up and off the floor, panting all the while.

                "Hello to you too." Aya muttered after a few minutes of just laying on the ground with a stunned expression on his face. It had been a year now that the real Aya, Aya-chan as Omi thought of her to separate her from her brother's name, had awakened. And since then, slowly, a change had started taking over Aya… Ran… whatever. He had started to relax when they weren't on missions, and though he sill didn't express himself vocally… emotions did flit from time to time on his pale face. A small smile would sometimes make its way there showing that he had loosened the tight hold on shields and facades. That ice cold charm he had always greeted people with had started to melt a little especially at the sight of his sister's smile. Omi blinked and gave a crooked grin. He stuck a hand out, offering to help the redhead up.

                "Sumimasen A...Ran. I'm hiding from the hibernating bear." There was a thud from upstairs and Ran's violet eyes suddenly held a dangerous glint. The twenty-one year old took the offered hand and then dusted himself off once he was standing up.

                "Did Yoji sleep in again?" The question was exasperated.

                "Not exactly." Omi lied badly and squeaked before hiding behind the taller man. "Don't be mad. It was Ken and my fault. We didn't realize how much time had passed."

                "You mean he just woke up!?" Not going good. And Yoji was now clambering down the steps. Definitely not good. Omi decided it would be a good time to start running again. So he did, only he turned to look over his shoulder so he could yell back at the two men and give them his usual genki smile.

                "Ja ne minna! I hope you took the aspirin Yoji-kun! I did try to warn you that Ran-kun would be home soon. Good luck!" He passed the living room and the kitchen then turned and started to running down another flight of steps that let him into the floral shop. He'd done more than his share today. It was time for him to relax. He opened the door to the floral shop and slipped out, taking long steps to the bike rack. Gently he unchained his bike and hopped on, heading to the cemetery… to Ouka's grave.

…

                When Ken finally jogged up the last block, he had to fiddle in the dark a few minutes to find the right key. His spirit had definitely lightened and he owed the kid big time. He owed Omi a lot actually. He smiled and shook his head before unlocking the door and entering quietly. It was eerily silent as he climbed up the stairs and when he reached the kitchen he found it dreadfully empty. He stood there at a bit of a loss. He knew he had come home later that usual but surely… surely they hadn't eaten without him, had they? A little noise made Ken jump and turn around. Violet eyes sparkled with open amusement as they watched him.

                "you're finally home." Ken nodded, uncomfortable really with the new Aya. Unlike Omi who had accepted the change and started calling the redheaded leader Ran like it was no big deal, Ken still couldn't even grasp the concept that Aya was not Aya's real name. That it was in fact his sister's name and he'd just taken it until he'd had his revenge. Not possible. Something from a TV show or something but definitely not reality. It didn't help that he had known this for months now… and that the change had just started when Aya-chan had woken up… it didn't help at all. Ken sighed.

                "Sumimasen. A father wanted me to give his kid a longer lesson."

                "you could have called. You worried Omi." And that summed the reason on why Ken couldn't feel quite comfortable with Aya's change. He showed emotion… he talked! He cared. It was a good change. It really was, it just was… weird. Ken smiled crookedly and hung his head in mock shame.

                "Yes mommy."

                "Baka." Aya snapped dryly. "We're eating downstairs."

                "Downstairs?" Ken asked. The redhead nodded, turning away as he did so, the light glinting off his long earrings. "Manx called in… She's supposed to stop by soon."

                "Mission?" A shrug answered his question and he was left to follow the older man's footsteps. As he stepped into the light of their 'mission room', Ken heard Omi breath a sigh of relief. "Hey kiddo, did you cook tonight? I noticed that nothing had burned down!" The remark was stated lightly as he was handed a paper plate with plastic utensils.

                "It's called take out, Ken-kun and you're the only one who's ever started a fire in the kitchen."  The blond answered cheerfully going back to his position on the sofa. The eighteen year old still looked like he was fifteen and a true picture of innocence and idealism. Especially with his knees tucked to his chest and his chin resting on top of them while his arms encircled the legs. Ken shook his head. The kid was way too cute for his own good at times, had way too much energy, and way too many problems to deal with. He let the teasing remark go as he settled onto his side of the couch, noting distantly that even though Aya had changed, the man still hung back, standing there, his back leaning against the wall. Yoji on the other hand was sprawled out, head down, by himself on the second couch-his sunglasses held lightly in the one hand that had dropped off the side of the couch. Omi followed Ken's look and shrugged. "We got him out of bed but after he ate, he just died. Totally out cold." Omi sighed looking away. "He must have been really wasted last night." The words seemed out of place coming from Omi's mouth but Ken was too busy stuffing his face to comment. "Manx is late." Omi spoke again, breaking the silence that had fallen over them. "We haven't had a mission for so long. I wonder… what it could be on." He trailed off a bit with the last words, thinking of the last time he had watched the news on tv. None of the reports he remembered seeing seemed to pop up and indicate a possible new mission… yet that didn't necessarily mean anything.

                "Better have fucking women." Yoji muttered lowly, snapping Omi from his thoughts.

                "It's a miracle." Aya muttered back with a slight snide tone to his words. "He's alive."

                "He heard 'Manx' that's why he'd suddenly alive." Ken commented between a mouthful of pasta. Omi made a face at seeing his friend eat with his mouthful but even the look he gave Ken didn't stop him from continuing to tease Yoji. After all it wasn't everyday that he could actually tease the great Yoji Kudou! And now that the opportunity had been laid out in the open, Ken was NOT going to miss it. Or so he had hoped. He snapped his mouth shut as a soft cough was heard from behind. All four of them turned around in any way that they could to see what that noise was. Manx stood there, a smile on her red lips as she looked at them a bit scornfully, her arms crossed over her chest.

                "Here's the new mission Weiss." She muttered in her throaty voice, leaving no time at all for Yoji to get up and try to flirt with 'his' Manx. The wide screen flicked on and Omi sat back into the couch's warmth, hoping against common sense that this would be an easy mission if a mission at all. The new Persia's voice filled the room, its monotone quality taking its hypnotic affect once more on the four Weiss members.

                "Members of Weiss, a known circus in Japan has increased its popularity ten fold-not only in the open but in the underworld as well. A week after they move from a new town, children that had come to see them, mysteriously disappear, leaving no trace or clue to what has happened to them. Months later, their organs can be found in a new body or on sale in the black market. Or for the more fortunate of the victims…" Slides of pictures of children in an orphanage suddenly replaced Persia's blurry image. "…they are found adopted into new families who are unaware that these children were kidnapped. The victims themselves have no memories of their lives before the adoption took place and often have memory lapses and migraines. Your target is to find and kill the owner of this circus along with his men who spy out the children and take orders from him. The only name known to be connected to the circus is Takeweru Iru. No file on him has yet been dound. White hunters of evil, hunt the futures of these dark beasts!" The screen blanked out and the rest of the room let the silence and darkness fall over them. Ken had tensed the moment he had heard the words of children disappearing. All of the members remembered what had happened to Omi the last time their mission involved kidnappings. The youngest of the Weiss members had almost snapped under the weight of repressed memories of his childhood. And though the emotional strain was being coped with, it was still very present in his light blue eyes. Ken's brown eyes found themselves focused on Omi's suddenly seeming frail form. He looked away as blue eyes looked into his, worried.

                "That's it?" Yoji muttered after a moment. The light flicked back on as Manx's hand flipped the switch. The envelopes she had been carrying were now in her clenched hand.

                "Yes." She said the one word and looked to Omi, her gaze strangely strained, an emotion rarely seen on the confident woman. "Will all of you participate?" She asked gently.

                "Yes." Omi answered first, the strength of his response almost a dare for the others to tell him otherwise. Nobody took the dare.

                "Good. I'll leave you to it then." Aya raised an eyebrow to that and then moved forward to receive one of the envelopes.

                "I don't think you should do this Omi." Yoji finally said, stating what Ken wanted to scream so loudly. Omi gave a shake of his head, sending his blond hair into his face.

                "You wouldn't, would you?" There was a pause as Ken's fist continued to tighten, the pain now running up his arm as the bone twinged. He didn't like this mission. He didn't want Omi involved at all. "Yoji, I'm not Mamoru. I haven't been him for a long time now. But I am Omi and more importantly I am Bombay. If I can help these children…" He let the words trail off, a strange quiet smile on his face indicating that he had found peace in them. Ken saw as Omi gave a little nod in Aya's direction as if somehow the redhead had been the one to make him see this truth. "I need to do this."

                "But…"

                "He's already decided, Kudou." Aya turned his violet eyes away from the paper he had been reading. "Omi, can you try to find something on this man? Anything at all?" Omi nodded briefly, the serious look overcoming the lightness in his eyes. Ken cursed inwardly and forced himself to relax. No matter what now, Omi would never stop when he got into this mood. Never.

                "I'll download the circus's schedule as well." He muttered and ran off to find his laptop no doubt.

                "And I'll ask around." Aya whispered into the air, leaving the other two to realize one single thing. Yes, they would get a night to sleep… but they would be the ones with flower duty for all of tomorrow. Yoji turned to Ken and both of them muttered a single curse before mounting up the stairs.