A/N: Thanks to Lady Jam, Kyra2, Mick, and Anime the Fallen Angel for the reviews! It's really sweet that you reviewed so quickly! And I'm glad you liked the story so far. Oh yeah, and as he gets younger, his hairstyle changes to match the age. And, since I believe I forgot to say this in the first chapter, all of the characters but Farfarello are in their Glühen forms.

"Spoken"

'Thoughts'

Telepathy

"Ran? Babe, why does this guy scare you so much?"

"I don't know," Ran whimpered. "He just does." He sniffled and leaned back against Ken. Ken wrapped his arms around the distraught redhead and rocked him.

"You going to be okay, Rannie?" Schuldich asked, worried about his brother. Ran looked up at him and nodded.

"I'll be fine. I think I'm going to bed now, though." That said, Ran disentangled himself from Ken's grip and headed to his bedroom.

"He's going to bed? This early?" Yohji questioned. Schuldich grinned at him.

"It's almost midnight, Yohji."

"How'd it get so late so quickly?"

"We spent a few hours talking before Ran came in, and then another hour or so while he told us what was bothering him.

"In that case, I guess it's not so early… " Yohji trailed off, staring at the couch where Omi and Nagi had settled themselves. "Apparently we wore out the chibis." The others looked over and saw both of the computer experts curled up at opposite ends of the couch.

"I'll take Nagi, why don't you get Omi?" Schuldich suggested. Yohji nodded and picked Omi up. After saying his goodnights he headed to Omi's room to drop off the 'chibi' before heading to his own room. After the others left, Ken picked up the letter Ran had dropped and read over it. After reading through four or five times he stood, stretched, and headed to his own room, turning off the lights on the way.

"AAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

The entire house was awoken by the terrified shriek coming from Ran's room. All seven of the assassins rushed to his room and found him standing in front of his mirror, a horrified look on his face. His hair barely covered his ears and was a few shades lighter than it usually was.

He turned to face them, and they noticed a few other changes. His eyes were wider, almost as if he had regained his innocence (like before the accident, not like that!), and his face was more rounded.

"Aww! My little brother is so kawaii!"

"How can this be kawaii, Schuldich? I haven't looked like this since I was eighteen!" Ran suddenly stopped, a look of horror growing on his face.

"Ran?" Ken questioned, very worried about his boyfriend.

"I think I know what that chemical did," he informed them. "It's… making me younger."

"WHAT?" Ken yelled in disbelief. Ran faced him and glared.

"What makes you think that?" Brad asked, very calm for a man who just learned that his already 6-years-younger crush was getting even younger.

"How else can you explain it? I was feeling more energetic after the mission, then yesterday I felt different, and reading that letter shouldn't have affected me so much!"

"Sorry, Babe, but you lost me on that one. What does your reaction to a letter have to do with getting younger?" Ken asked.

"Hearing about him hasn't affected me for awhile."

"And 'awhile' would be…?" Yohji asked.

"Since he got over the shock," a new voice answered from behind them. Before they had a chance to turn around, they saw Ran's face light up.

"Yuushi! Where'd you come from?" Ran exclaimed, wrapping his arms around the taller man.

"See! I told you he wouldn't have forgotten us!" A smaller man squeezed his way into the room, getting his own hug from the redheaded leader of Weiss. "You didn't forget us, did you?"

"Not at all. Is that even possible? You guys were my first team."

"Um… I hate to break up the reunion, but could you please introduce us?' Ken asked, trying to control both his patience and his temper. Before Ran could say anything, however, Schuldich snapped his fingers and pointed in the air.

"Now I know where I've seen you guys before! Brad and Ran's heads!" The five members of Crashers, and Ran, looked at Schuldich as if he were crazy.

"You saw it in our heads?" Ran asked. Crashers voiced their agreement. "Why would they be in Brad's mind?"

"Um… Ran? Don't you think it's strange that he claims to have been in your heads at all?"

"He's a telepath. Now please, Schu, explain."

"I don't know why Brad had them in his head, he just did."

"I had a vision around this time yesterday. They were there. I was thinking about them most of yesterday and trying to figure out what purpose they had being here," Brad explained.

"And what are you supposed to be?" a dark-haired man asked, adjusting his glasses.

"I'm a-"

"He can see the future, the dark-haired boy over there is telekinetic, and the white-haired man is unable to feel pain," Ran interrupted, not needing precognitive abilities to see a fight brewing. "And while I'm at it, this is Queen, she's like a live-in Manx for Crashers. The blond is Honjou Yuushi, the one with glasses is Shirasagi Reiichi, the young-looking one is Uhyou Naru, and the last one is Tanuma Masato. They make up Crashers.

"These are my new team, Weiss. The original members are Hidaka Ken, Kudou Yohji, and Tsukiyono Omi. Ken's the taller brunette, Yohji is the tall blond, and Omi is the one with blue eyes. The new members are Crawford Brad, Kitada Schuldich, Farfarello Jei, and Naoe Nagi. Brad's the American, Schu's the redhead, Farf's the white-haired one, and Nagi's the telekinetic."

Everyone in the room paused for a moment, each unused to hearing Ran speak for such a large amount of time. Also, no one had missed his slight blush when he had said Ken's name. Crashers recognized it as a habit he was growing out of when he was with them. Whenever someone he liked was around, he would blush when speaking to or of them. Weiss, however, did not have that luxury. That knew he had blushed, but they had no idea that it was a habit from when he was younger. Then Farf remembered the new team's entrance.

"What shock?" he asked. The others all just stared at him.

"What do you mean?" Masato asked.

"When you came in, you said he hadn't reacted like that since he got over the shock. What shock?"

"Oh, that man grabbed and almost molested him during a mission, and he went into shock for a few days," Reiichi explained, keeping a close eye out for Ran's reaction the entire time.

"So that's what I saw! Ran, you never said anything before about ever going into shock!" Schuldich accused, slinging an arm across his brother's shoulders.

"It's happened more than once," Ran said, gaining the attention of all twelve people in the room. Seeing their looks, Ran's eyes widened slightly. "What? The other time was when my parents… well my mom and stepfather died and Aya went into the coma." Schuldich shook his head and tightened his grip around the younger man.

"I'm sorry, but would you people mind explaining something?" Naru asked. He waited until he had the attention of everyone else in the room before continuing. "For one thing, I thought Aya was dead. Second, why does… Schuldich right? Yeah, why does Schuldich have his arm around Ran when… "

"When Ran obviously is in love with someone else?" Schuldich suggested. Naru nodded.

"Aya is dead, but she was in a coma for a week before she died. I went into shock at that time. For your second question, Schu's my older brother."

"But I thought you were the oldest," Yuushi commented, confused.

"I thought I was too, but after Schwarz became part of Weiss we found out that I actually have two older half-siblings."

"Two?"

"Manx is Schu's older sister."

"That had to be a shock for all of you. Isn't Manx the one that got you into Kritiker in the first place?"

"Yes, but she didn't even remember me."

"How is that possible?"

"We were little when Ran was born, and we only really knew him for about an hour after he was born. Kids tend to forget things pretty quickly, and when his mom didn't show up again, we just sort of… forgot," Schuldich explained. There was a round of nodding, some to emphasize his point, and others to show understanding.

"So, we never asked, but what made you guys decide to visit Ran all of a sudden?" Nagi questioned, working on his social skills.

"Actually, we started getting notes concerning Ran, and decided we had better come over here to at least inform you on what was going on so you could protect him," Queen answered.

"Thanks. Do you have any idea how long you'll be here?"

"Here as in this apartment, or here as in this area of the city?"

"Both, actually."

"Here this city until that man is thrown back in jail or killed, whichever comes first. Here this apartment until you kick us out."

"Where will you stay tonight?" Omi asked. He was worried about all of them, and, being who he was, couldn't stand the thought that they would not have a place to stay.

"Oh, well there's a hotel a few blocks over. We could rent a few rooms and stay there," Reiichi responded.

"Or we could all bunk together and let you stay in some of our rooms for a little while," Yohji suggested.

The eleven men and Queen were in the upstairs living room, discussing life and getting to know each other. With all he new people, there was no chance for Ran and Ken to try and hide their relationship. Especially if neither wanted the floor. When they had entered the living room and seen the arrangement of furniture, Weiss had allowed Crashers to choose where they were sitting first.

Queen was in one of the armchair, and Masato, Yuushi, and Naru were sharing the couch. Reiichi was sitting on one side of one of the loveseats, and Brad had taken the other side. Farfarello was sitting on the arm of the loveseat at Brad's elbow. Yohji and Schuldich had taken the other loveseat, and Omi and Nagi had taken up positions on the floor. That left the other armchair for either Ken or Ran. Ken had sat in the chair and pulled Ran onto his lap.

After the discussion had gone on for an hour or two, Omi, Naru, and Nagi went downstairs to fix drinks for everyone. Even with the heater on, February was a cold month. When they got back upstairs with the drinks, they saw most of the older people still talking, but sometime during the discussion, Ran had leaned further against Ken and had fallen asleep. The rejuvenating redhead was curled up in his boyfriend's lap.

"He sure has been sleeping a lot lately," Nagi mused, looking over to the two people he was walking with.

"He did sleep more often at the beginning," Naru realized. "The longer he's stayed in Kritiker, the less sleep he needs. It's kind of strange."

"We'll bring that up to the others later. It's possible that he's just tiring himself out with the stress over that man and getting younger. Besides, look at how tightly Ken's holding him," Omi mentioned. The other two nodded and the three of them made their way into the room. As soon as they stepped into the room Ran's eyes flew open, proving that he still had his assassins instincts. [1]

"We brought Cocoa and Coffee!" Naru announced, bouncing slightly.

"Ahh, you chibis are so nice to us!" Yohji laughed. Ran and the members of Crashers exchanged a look, causing Yohji to pause. "What? Did I say something wrong?"

"Don't worry about it Yohji," Reiichi said to the flustered blond. "Besides, we have more important things to worry about."

"Like what?" Ken asked, repositioning Ran slightly and settling back in the armchair.

"Like whether you guys will let us leave soon enough to get a hotel room for the night. We do still have to get a place to stay."

"I thought we had already agreed that we would rearrange the sleeping arrangements for as long as you would need a place… " Schuldich trailed off, then jumped up, blushed slightly, and sat back down. "Oh yeah, that was all in our heads. Everyone agreed that that was a good idea, but no one actually vocalized it."

"Okay," Brad said, taking charge of the situation since the real leader was still groggy and falling back to sleep. "Who's going to stay in who's room?"

"Are there any requests or preferences?"

"Couples should share rooms," Nagi whispered to Omi, causing the other boy to giggle.

That only opens up one room, Chibi. What do you suggest for the others? Besides, I don't think Ran would go for the idea. He and Ken may be together, but Ran would still like to wait. Schuldich explained in Nagi's head. Nagi was used to the invasion and simply answered his German teammate.

Wait for what? It's not like they can get married. Besides, aren't you and Yohji together?

Where would you get that idea? We're friends. Besides, I have my eyes on someone else. Schu responded, eyeing Brad.

It might be the fact that the two of you are constantly flirting with each other.

Oh, Chibi, we only flirt with each other to test out new ideas or to see if old ones still work. And as for the marriage thing, they may not be able to get married legally, but I do believe there is something called a Bonding Ceremony… [2]

"Are you two done yet?" Schuldich looked over to see Brad standing next to the loveseat with his arms crossed. He could feel Yohji snickering next to him. Schuldich sent an innocent and apologetic grin [3] Brad's way and kicked Yohji. Brad rolled his eyes. "As I was saying, Omi and Nagi will share a room, Schuldich and I will share a room, and Farfarello and Yohji will share a room. Ran or Ken will probably be sharing with one of us as well. That will open up five rooms."

"First of all, why can't Ran and Ken share a room? Aren't they dating?" Yuushi asked.

"Before you go on," Brad cut in, "Because we don't have a lot of mattresses or beds. They would have to share the bed as well. Please continue."

"Okay, part two is why we each get rooms to ourselves when you guys are all giving yours up."

"Because you are the guests. What else would you suggest? The couches may seem comfortable now, but when you're actually trying to sleep on them, they're the lumpiest things on the planet. Even when they've been folded out into beds," Omi responded.

"And how would you know that… " Naru questioned. Most of the assassins blushed at least a little.

"Well… for my birthday last year, Ken and I managed to convince everyone to camp out in here. I think Ran's the only one who fell asleep, and he was on the coffee table."

Queen looked from Omi to Ran and back again before even starting to form a response to that. "How… could he fall asleep on the coffee table when he can't sleep on the couch?"

"I had my trenchcoat under me, and I took one of the pillows from the couch. We had had the heater on all day, so it was warm enough to not need blankets," Ran answered.

"You fit eight people on one couch and two loveseats?" Reiichi asked.

"No, we were still known as Schwarz. We didn't join the team until around mid-June," Farfarello replied.

"Oh. Well, now that we have that settled, what are we going to do about the sleeping arrangements?" Queen inquired, trying to bring the conversation back to the topic.

"Nagi and I will share a room. That way there will be someone else with Internet access. We've gotten used to sharing stuff," Omi spoke up.

"And they said that I could stay with them, too!" Naru exclaimed, jumping up and down. Ran and the members of Crashers smiled indulgently at his hyper activity.

"Well, that takes care of three members. Each of the four of you can have your own rooms, and we can double up on bedrooms while you stay. However, there will be changes from last time," Ran announced. He and Brad exchanged a look, and Ran continued. "We got along best when Yohji and Schuldich were in separate rooms, so Schuldich will be sharing his room with Brad, Yohji and Farfarello will share Yohji's room, and Ken and I will stay in mine. Omi, Nagi, and Naru can stay in Omi's room, as it's the largest with a computer. Queen will take Brad's room, Yuushi will have Ken's room, since I know for a fact he doesn't mind clutter, even when it's someone else's. Reiichi will have Farfarello's room since it's the largest on the bottom floor, and Masato can have Nagi's room. Does anyone have any questions, comments, or arguments?"

No one disagreed, and everyone went downstairs to help the members of Crashers bring in their things. After everything was unpacked or moved, everyone met in the downstairs living room.

"I'm hungry!"

"You're always hungry, Naru."

"Still? I would have thought you'd have grown out of it by now."

"Not hardly! Now I think he eats more because he can."

"So, who's cooking?"

"Well, it's Nagi's turn."

"Ran! I'm still learning how to cook, and I really don't want to subject our guests to food poisoning on their first night here!"

"Food poisoning? That has to be better than Yuushi's attempts at cooking. After a month with him in the kitchen, we realized that burnt food wasn't just a phase he would grow out of."

"You ate burnt food for a month?"

"Yep. Well, we each had a plateful, and then ordered out."

"You ate it, too, Ran?"

"Hai." Ran shuddered, as if reliving a horrible memory. Yuushi's face turned redder than the violet-eyed man's hair and pouted.

"It's not like Masato or Queen were any better! Reiichi and Ran were the only ones that cooked well. What about you guys?"

"Initially, we took turns, but after three weeks of that, we realized we had the best food when Ran cooked. After that, he only got a break from the kitchen when someone else was feeling brave and we had enough for take-out. Then Yohji started really working on it, and Ran let a few hints slip. Then they took turns every once in awhile," Omi explained.

"Yeah," Schuldich agreed, "No one in Schwarz can cook, so we either dealt with Nagi's, since he's the best of all of us, or went out to eat."

"Aren't you two the best two assassin teams in Japan?"

"Why do you ask?"

"If you were that good, you probably had a lot of jobs. Where did all of your money go?"

Omi sighed and ducked his head, looking embarrassed. He told them anyway, though. "I used my money to buy things for the computer, as did Nagi. Ken spent his on sports stuff, and Farfarello spent his on sharp objects or bandages. Yohji and Schuldich used their pay on clothes, beauty products, and women, not necessarily in that order. Brad's paycheck went into house repairs or to replace things one of the others broke when angry. Ran's went to keep Yohji out of jail."

"What do you mean, 'keep me out of jail'?"

"Do you really think you paid all those bills at the bar? Even an assassin's paycheck doesn't go on forever."

"Oh… Thanks, Ran." The redhead in question simply shrugged and headed upstairs to his room. A moment later, he returned carrying an envelope. He opened it and rifled through a few papers. When he was done, he pulled out a few bills and handed them to Reiichi.

"Why don't you and Brad go and find something to eat? That will give the two of you a chance to get to know each other better, and the rest of us can finish unpacking and rearranging. Brad and Reiichi left the apartment amidst the sound of twelve groans. Even Queen was not looking forward to dealing with Ran's standards of 'clean'.

"So you knew him when he really looked like that?" Brad asked, looking at his companion. Reiichi nodded his head, and both men adjusted their glasses.

"Yes, I did. He was as much of a neat freak then as I'm guessing he is now."

"It kind of makes you wonder how he ended up with Ken."

"What makes you say that?"

"Ken's… not the neatest person in the world. He has the mindset that the floor is to be used as the largest shelf in the house. There have been more arguments about that alone than anything else put together. Except maybe who's turn it is for the morning shift. Since there are eight of us, we now open at five in the morning."

"Who would buy flowers at that hour?"

"You wouldn't believe the number of husbands, and wives, who forget their anniversaries until an hour before the other wakes up. Then it's off to the flower shop at the crack of dawn. Trust me, I'm not even awake and selling flowers to a panicking man or woman!"

"I don't envy you, Brad Crawford."

"Neither do I. How does your team feel about greasy 'American' food?"

"What did you have in mind?"

"We're back!"

"You had better have food!"

"Of course we do! We found a marvelous restaurant, right beneath two golden arches."

"Huh?"

"McDonald's."

"YUMMY!!!"

"Calm down Naru."

After eating, the assassins hung out in the living room for awhile and talked for a few more hours. One by one, though, they began falling asleep. All of the sleeping ones (Omi, Nagi, Naru, Ken, Schuldich, and Farfarello) were either woken up, or picked up by their roommates and sent (or carried) to their rooms. After that, the rest of the Kritiker agents said goodnight.

A/N: Wow! That was a long one! My page count is… 10! Can you believe it? BTW, the update on Family Secrets is only to make what I wrote in this one correspond with what I wrote earlier. I had to change a few parts. Sorry if that confused anyone. And I still haven't received ANY information concerning Crashers, so I'm hoping that just means that you haven't found anything, not that you don't care enough to look. T.T Anyway, please review!

[1] –That's not necessarily assassin's instincts. That happens to me, too. As soon as a new presence enters the room where I'm sleeping I'll wake up. It gets more than a little annoying…

[2] –I have no idea if that's what it was called or not. I read about it in a fic I was reading awhile ago. BTW, if you're the author (can't remember name or title, but it's the one where Ran and Yohji go to take out someone who's been attacking gays and Ran really is one) I'm sorry I can't give you more credit for your idea. Oh, and the Speedo thing was great!

[3] –Yeah, like he really means it! (In case you couldn't tell, that was sarcasm)