Ch.3

The new looks—the first test.

                The rest of yesterday, as far as Yoji was concerned was way too genki for him to handle. Omi—he could handle because he knew without a shadow of a doubt that under that smile and those innocent blue eyes was a pain that ran so deep not even the kid knew how to deal with it. So he shut it off and hid it, but Aya-chan? That girl was way too happy. It made Yoji's head ache at the thought that this young cheerful girl was related to ice-man… Mr. I can't smile—I'd rather kill you instead—Aya or Ran as Omi preferred to call him now. Yoji had excused himself early yesterday; after having teased Omi, Ken and Aya as much as he could. Omi and Ken were too easy to tease and Aya well that man was a hopeless case. He had no idea what would make the redhead blush. And Aya-chan, Aya's beloved little sister was way too out of reach and protected to even be considered as a teasing prospect. One look from Aya's amethyst eyes made Yoji all to aware of that.

                After retiring early (around ten o'clock at night to go visit his usual bars for about five hours more before actually going to bed!), Yoji had hardly been able to close his eyes and greet darkness that an awfully awake and cheerful Ken had come to wake him up. When he'd looked at the clock and seen the time, he'd roared… and was splashed with ice-cold water… something, Ken had muttered in way of apologetic explanation, Omi had advised him to do. Minutes later, Yoji found himself, still wet and seething, at the kitchen table when it was only six o'clock in the morning. They were trying to kill him! He was sure of that fact. Omi surely wanted to kill him for what had happened yesterday but come on! ...the kid should have known that Yoji would tease him about having a crush on Aya's sister! Yoji sighed. They could at least try to kill him in a more considerate way. Ken sat across from the older man, still wary of the possible angry outbursts that could come from that direction at any time. Aya ignored the two and sipped blankly at his coffee.

                "So…" Ken started. "Where's Aya-chan?" He asked in a way of making conversation. The younger girl had slept over after Manx had called them saying she wished to talk to the girl early the next morning. From the looks of it, Aya-chan had gotten the bed while her older brother had slept on the couch in the mission room. Before Aya or Ran could answer, Ken asked another question. "Would you prefer us calling you Ran?" The redhead arched an eyebrow and put his coffee mug back on the table.

                "Which question would you like me to answer first?" Ken shrugged. "Ran, if possible. Aya-chan is shopping." He muttered, using as little words as possible.

                "Shopping?" Violet eyes met green ones in slight exasperation.

                "Yes."

                "Isn't it … a bit early for that?"

                "Good morning!" Omi chirped as he bounded off the steps. Yoji growled at him making Omi sidestep away from Yoji with a chuckle and a mention of hibernating bear. Ran nodded his head in greeting before returning to his coffee silently, leaving only Ken to give the eighteen year old a 'good morning' in return. Ken was relieved that Omi had finally gotten his butt downstairs. Now he wouldn't be alone to face the two grumpiest people…

                "Can you now tell me why we had to get up so early today?" Ken asked, moving his chair backward as Yoji leaned in, his eyes narrowing.

                "I'd be very interested to know why as well." He grunted before slapping his sunglasses back up his nose. Omi gave a nervous chuckle and returned to his seat next to Ken with his cereal bowl. He reached for the box but it was swiped away from him by Yoji. "Answer first bishonen… or the cereal gets dumped." Ken blinked and then rolled his eyes. Yoji could be so immature at times.

                "Mou Yoji!" Omi shook his head. "I'm a growing boy. I need to eat!"

                "Kudou." Ran snapped. "Stop being an ass."

                "Arigato Ran-kun." Omi smiled at the redhead. Yoji sighed with exasperation and mimicked Omi's voice.

                "Arigato Ran-kun. You make me sick chibi!" He hissed, shoving the box back in Omi's direction. The eighteen year old just shrugged and took hold of his cereal box. "Will you answer my damn question?"

                "…I'm sure Manx and Aya-chan will be able to give a better explanation than I could. All you need to know is that we're going to look over the plan that Ran-kun and I gave her yesterday. She accepted it and made some changes that she's going to go over and… she wants to test it out." Omi breathed out after that little speech and poured milk on the cereal he had finished dishing out of the box. "Happy?" He asked. Yoji leaned back in his seat, one eyebrow arched.

                "Manx and Aya-chan?"

                "Hai!"

                "Will wonders never cease?"

                "No…" Ran muttered, placing his empty cup down on the table. "You're up Kudou… and it's morning." Yoji turned to glare at Ran.

                "Well… you… you're talking!"

                "Ohayo boys." Manx drawled coming in with Aya-chan close behind her. "Sorry for being late." She continued, ignoring the fact that she had interrupted Yoji's soon to be rant. "Aya-chan and I couldn't quite decide what outfit would be best for Yoji's build."

                "You went shopping for us?" Ken squeaked in surprise, his piece of bread falling before him. Ran caught it before it touched the table's surface. "Clothes shopping?" Manx nodded and her smile got wider as she saw the tan brunette pale.

                "Close your mouth." Ran muttered as he placed the half eaten bread back in Ken's hand. "Ready Omi?" He then turned to ask the youngest Weiss member.

                "I guess so." Omi muttered, taking a last spoonful before getting up and leaving the room with a bag that Aya-chan handed to him with a large smile on her face. Her smile made Omi uncomfortable since he left the room with his face turning various shades of red. Yoji thought he heard Aya-chan whispered something about cute but he was still too sleepy and grumpy to take too much care in it at all. After all he'd tease Omi about it later but right now… He let his attention focus on Manx.

                "I hope you're going to give an explanation to all of this." Manx gave a small smile and a short nod.

                "Follow me to the basement." She simply muttered. Ran did as he was told, leaving Aya-chan, Ken, and Yoji to follow in what Yoji considered to be slow motion. Ken apparently did not think it was in slow motion as he choked on his last swallow of bread. Yoji slapped his back a bit violently and cursed when he saw the brunette turn red. He pushed the soccer player aside and brushed Aya-chan and Ran to the wall so that he could escape the brunette's wrath at being hit when chocking. Manx who had already reached the last step shook her head in exasperation as she heard Ran and Ken curse after Yoji. The eldest of the Weiss members, Yoji leaped into one of the couches and gave a huge smile.

                "Just for that Ken… I'll never save your life again." Ran shook his head and took Aya-chan's hand in his, taking her to the opposite couch. Ken still red, glared and followed the siblings.

                "Thank god! You didn't save me… you nearly killed me!"

                "Boys…" Manx intervened, hands on her hips. "Do I need to put you in the corner?" Silence greeted her question/threat. "Good. Now Yoji, I believe you wanted an explanation…" He nodded. "As you two were hopefully made aware of by the other two… there is no hard evidence on the targets' whereabouts or how they look and how many there are. To get a clear visual, Weiss will need to bring them out of their hideout. To do this, Ran and Omi have found that the best would be to go undercover to the circus when it comes to this town in one month. Omi knows that the targets will be on the lookout for a young teenage girl for an important client as well as other random children for the black market. Aya-chan volunteered to go…" Ran tensed and frowned looking at his sister. "…her offer was refused. It would be too dangerous… same if we used any untrained fighter so… one of you will have to be that fifteen year old girl. To see which one of you would fit that role the best, we're going to have a fashion show." Silence greeted this news. Ran was un-perplexed, Aya-chan was smiling now that her brother was no longer glaring at her, Yoji was open mouthed and unbelieving while Ken was out right horrified at the prospect.

                "You mean to tell me…" Yoji muttered, trying to get his tried brain to wrap around all of this information and make some sense out of it all. "… that you went shopping for girl's clothes… for us? Okay where the hell is bishonen? He's going to get it! No way in fucking hell that I'm…" He lost all his words as Omi cam down the stairs, glaring with his face flushed. "Omi…?" His voice cracked.

                "Would you rather have more children be kidnapped to save your stupid pride?" The boy snapped angrily. Yoji's eyes got wider and he whistled. That turned Omi's anger into pure embarrassment. The eighteen year old tugged at the hem of the skirt, trying to make the fabric go lower. "Don't say anything Yoji… please don't say anything." Omi thought he was going to die at that instant as he was the main focus of attention. God, it was already bad enough that this was their only choice of action since they couldn't exactly kidnap a girl of their own and make her a prey… or use Aya-chan or Sakura as bait… they had to…to… be the bait themselves but… but… but… he was starting to regret the fact that he'd given Manx and Aya-chan the choice of outfits for them. This skirt was way too short. There was no way that… Another louder whistle came from Yoji's direction. Omi's face took an even deeper degree of heat than he had thought it was possible. A pillow was thrown in his direction by Ran.

                "Cut it out Kudou." Ran glared at him.

                "Shut up." Yoji muttered playfully at the redhead. Then turning back his attention to Omi, he let his eyes wander up and down the bishonen's legs. "Looking good bishonen… you got nice legs."  'Die.' Omi thought hard as he was thoroughly traumatized. He gave Yoji a good glare before facing Manx's direction. Manx looked amused and shook her head.

                "Turn around Omi and ignore the baka." He did, still trying to make the skirt longer than it actually was. How could girls where these things?

                "There's a slight problem." Yoji, expert in girls, muttered once more breaking the silence that had engulfed the room.

                "And what could that be?" Ken asked sarcastically. "What problem can there be other than the fact that Omi is dressed as a girl and that we'll be next? Hmmm? I'd really like to know." Yoji ignored Ken's outburst, knowing without a doubt that Omi would really want to kill him after this. 'Oh well,' The older man thought as he searched his pocket for a light and a cigarette, 'I suppose it's fair revenge for getting Ken to wake me up the way he did this morning… but…' The kid might look cute and innocent but Yoji was certain that he would never want to be on the kid's bad side. Especially when the kid always managed to carry his darts with him everywhere. Those things were nasty sharp even when they weren't poisoned and… He cleared his throat.

                "He's too flat." Ran blinked. And blinked again. He then hid his laughter behind a cough and tried to his best to glare threateningly at the older man.

                "Only you, Kudou." He muttered quietly.

                "What? Its true. No fifteen year old would ever be that flat! Don't we have any cotton balls or something to stuff a bra up for him?"

                "Yoji…" It was a pretty low growl coming from the boy who had been too shocked to say anything minutes before. Ken shivered at the sound of it. Now that was a sound that he'd never heard coming out of Omi before. "You. HENTAI! Baka. Baka. Baka. Baka. Baka. BAKA!" With each word he advanced and started smacking Yoji across the top of his head.  Ran once again gave a little cough and Ken turned to give the man a sideways glance wondering exactly what was wrong with the redhead. Didn't he realize that this would turn bloody if he didn't do anything soon? Aya-chan apparently did as she got up from the couch and went to Omi's side who was still beet red and screaming at a now also screaming Yoji who's lit cigarette was threatening to dangle out of his open mouth. Yoji's hair was tousled and Ken wondered how many bruised bumps the man would be sporting on his head after this mess was cleared.

                "I am NOT a hentai! Chibi! Whose perverted idea was it anyway? Huh? Yours…"

                "You are too a hentai! What's wrong with you? You… you… And its not like we have any other choice! You think I want to dress up like this? You, you…"

                "Chibi…" Yoji growled back, finally placing hands over his head to protect it from further abuse. "That hurts!"

                "Ano…" Aya-chan muttered quietly, placing one hand on Omi's shoulder.

                "Stop calling me chibi!... uh… gomen Aya-chan." Omi quickly muttered, letting himself be pulled away with one last glare at Yoji.

                "You're so cute Omi-chan." She said sweetly, making the boy blush harder. Definitely teasing material right there, Yoji though through his headache. Revenge will be sweet. Than he caught Ran's sudden glare and he sighed. "Maybe it's time for Yoji to get dressed, ne Omi?" Yoji coughed and shook his head violently, already muffling a curse. "I think Manx-san and I have a pretty good idea of what you'd be like as a girl.

                "Aa." Omi muttered, then before turning to leave the room he gave on deathly glare in Yoji's direction. 'Right back at you, kid.' Yoji thought to himself, bracing for what was to come next.

                "Well now, wasn't that fun." Manx gave a throaty laugh and plucked the cigarette from Yoji's mouth. "Next." She handed him a bag which Yoji refused to take, grumbling.

                "You two already know that there's no way I'd pass for a fifteen year old girl… or any girl. I'm too…"

                "Get off your lazy ass, Kudou. If the other three have to do it, you do too. And who knows without that anorexic body of yours… you might make a… butt ugly girl. But a girl no less."

                "You just want to see my…" He started ignoring the insults. Manx arched her eyebrow in such a way, making Yoji stop in mid sentence. "Maa… maa. I'll do it. I'll do it." He peered inside the bag and his sunglasses toppled off his nose as he sweat dropped. "This had better be a sexy outfit." He warned, flinging it over his shoulder. Omi rand down the stairs, back into his normal clothes: baggy black shorts and a simple cotton t-shirt over his wiry frame. Yoji gave him a lopsided grin only to have a whispered 'hentai' be sent his way. Ken gave a worried glance when Omi came and sat on the couch Yoji had been sitting. He moved to where the eighteen year old was in time to hear him give a soft sigh as the kid hugged his knees to his chest.

                "I'm glad…" At Ken's confused glance, Omi smiled. "I'm glad that it's over. Though…" He lowered his voice. "I have a feeling that tells me it's going to be between you and me… and it'll probably be me since I look younger. Meh." He wrinkled his nose eliciting a laugh from Ken.

                "Just think though, Omi. At least we get to see Mr. Playboy in a skirt or a dress…" The boy shivered.

                "I'd rather not, thank you all the same." Not fifteen minutes went by after that exchange that a small sound alerted the occupants of the room to the arrival of Yoji. "I'm afraid to look. " Omi moaned. He peered over the couch and saw. He gulped and went back to hiding. "Scary!" He felt Ken nod beside him. Yoji gave a flirty smile to everybody before giving a small turn and then a gallant bow. The black dress that fit snugly over his muscled body was over a small light blue t-shirt. Apparently, Yoji also hadn't made himself a chest, Ken observed with wry relief, knowing that now he wouldn't be forced to ass that part on to this 'disguise.' The overall affect though was that Yoji's obvious male body was in a tight girl dress and as Omi had helpfully pointed out before… it was scary.

                "Am I sexy or am I sexy?" Yoji asked, lighting another cigarette from, what seemed to be, thin air. Manx sweat dropped and pushed him out of the room.

                "Okay onto the next one, shall we?" She muttered in a hurried voice. "Aya?" Two heads snapped in her direction. After a moment's pause, the redhead got up. "Gomen… Ran." Manx corrected herself. "Here you go." Ran gave a heavy sigh and the blackest look and mortal could give to the bag he was now holding. His violet eyes widened for a fraction of a second and his jaw tightened considerably.

                "Aya-chan?" He asked in that low steely voice of his that announces that he's truly pissed.

                "Hai?"

                "Did you? Were you the one who…?"

                "Hai." The girl replied cheerfully again. Ran sighed with a heavy heart and shook his head making his earring dangle along with his red strands of hair. He climbed the stairs and wondered again which god was painting their story. And why? Why was that god always laughing at Weiss? When he came down again, minutes after Yoji had come back to find that the only spot left on a couch was next to Aya-chan and that Omi wouldn't budge from his spot next to Ken no matter how bad the teasing got, he became the focus of all their attention. He continued to scowl making the room's temperature suddenly drop by ten degrees if not more as more time passed. He leaned back on the wall that he was always used to leaning on and let their looks pass by him. He knew he was supposed to do a little turn but fuck that. Not with this on. This little skirt and… He shuddered. There was even a heart on it.

No turns or bows from him.

And that was that.

                "Never knew Aya would make a cute girl." There was a pause as Ran turned to glare at Yoji. "But not as cute of a girl as you are, chibi."

                "Baka."

                "Ajo." Omi and Ran muttered at the same time. They glanced at each other and Omi gave a small sympathetic smile.

                "Never knew pink would go so well on a redhead either."

                "One more word Kudou. One more and you will die." Ran finally muttered, pushing himself off the wall. "I assume that I'm done for now." Leaving Manx no time to disagree, Ran left the room.

                "Ken-kun." Manx muttered, the brunette sunk in his seat and gave a quick prayer even if he was no longer a believer. He felt a small encouraging nudge from Omi and decided that right now, it was best not to look at the kid because he knew that all he could do was glare at the one who had come up with this farfetched idea.

                "Here goes nothing." He muttered more to himself than to anyone nearby as he jumped up from the couch and ran up the stairs, quickly grabbing the bag from Manx's hand without even pausing in his footing. He passed Ran on the way up who merely whispered a totally out of character 'good luck' before continuing on his way. Ken gave a shaky sigh as he entered the bathroom… Ken did NOT want to look at what was in the bag. Sure enough as he finally mustered the courage to open it and pull it's contents out, he found to his horror a skirt not too dissimilar from the one that Omi had been wearing. School uniform. That's what he and Omi were being told to wear.

'So Omi was right. Manx already know Ran and Yoji can't pull it off… it's really a choice between me and Omi. Kso!' The small, skimpy brown skirt he held up looked way too small. He let it fall to the ground as he stared into the mirror in horror. 'This is NOT going to work. It's not gonna fit and… and…'

And he had no choice.

He reached for the skirt again and moaned. 'Like I said before… here goes nothing.'

…

                Omi had known it would come to this. He really had. The vain flicker of hope that maybe Ken would be chosen, had died when he had seen Ken come down the stairs in that girl's school uniform. So it really hadn't been come as a great shock when Manx had turned to him and told him that he would act as the 'bait'. He sighed, waiting… knowing that the worse was about to come. Sure, he and Ran had thought this plan up but Manx was the one that would finalize it and make some of their blurry, general terms… more specific. 'She's enjoying this way too much.' Omi thought a bit bitterly as he did as was told.

                Five minutes later and he found himself in the uniform again. It wasn't the one from his school; he had noted absently. Possibly one from a school two towns over or something… where Manx and Aya-chan had gotten it… or how, were a total mystery to him.

                "Now Omi, listen. You have a month to learn from Aya-chan how to walk, talk, and act like a girl. You're going to have to let your hair grow long. During this time you will be home schooled, I will take care of calling your school. Don't worry. One the day for the actual plan to take place, you will go alone to the circus… act as if you were a normal teen age girl. Look out for things that seem a bit strange and try to get some faces but if you don't, don't worry. Ken, Aya… Ran, sorry… and Yoji will be watching outside. They'll be taking notes on security and faces they see. Omi- don't do anything unless otherwise instructed. I just want you to catch their eye… that's all.  Understood?"

                "Hai."

                "So…" Yoji muttered lazily. "He gets the easy job." The man smirked along with Manx as they both turned to face Omi. Manx's smile turned into a pitying look.

                "Oh… I think not." Was all she said as she got up and left, winking at Aya-chan as the younger girl waved a goodbye to the redheaded woman.

"And now is when hell commences." Omi muttered slowly. He shook his head before giving a wide smile at the others who were all staring at him quite strangely. "Ano… Aya-chan? Could I get out of this? I mean, girls do wear jeans… ne? And seriously…" Omi started a bit thoughtfully, "… being a girl can't be that hard. I only have to do it for one day!" He was beginning to whine. Great. Whining. Just great.

The seventeen year old gave him another one of her smiles and tilted her head to one side. Omi's stomach sank lower as sudden fear took hold of him. His breath caught. And this girl would be living with them for a whole month?

Hell.

Yep.

Hell.

                "Omi," She said way too sweetly. "Just think, there will be other fifteen year olds at the circus that one night… and you're the only one we want to get picked, don't we?" Omi sweat dropped and nodded. There was a slight pause and then…

                "Does that mean we have to live with a cross dressing chibi for a month?" Yoji looked thoughtfully over Omi's crestfallen face. "Have pity on the poor soul, get him some girly jeans before he freezes his butt off." Aya-chan gave a giggle and nodded. But before she could leave the room, Yoji couldn't resist making one more comment. "Oh and remember to stuff up a bra for him! Ouch! Omi!"

                "YOJI!"