A/N: Hey! I'm back! Did no one notice that I changed Chapter Four from an A/N to an actual chapter? I haven't gotten any reviews for that chapter. If you're wondering why I did that, it's because it gets annoying to read a story and half way through there's an A/N that has no point being there because it was put up over a year before I find it. It makes more sense to just replace the note with the next chapter. On top of that, I will be adding in my own twists for Crashers in this chapter. I still don't know any of their ages, and Queen's real name shall more than likely forever remain a mystery, so I'm doing what I want with them!

Chapter Five: Information and Introductions

"Ran?" A voice whispered in the dark.

"I thought you were asleep."

"I woke up when you came in."

"Oh. What is it?"

"I know this will sound kind of strange, but when you're twenty again, I mean- when you grow up again… will you marry me?"

"NANI?!?!?"

"I figured you rather I ask you when no one's around to see your reaction… and well… I mean it. I… I do want to marry you."

"Hai."

"Ran?"

"Nani?"

"Aishiteru."

"Aishiteru, Ken."

"Oyasumi."

"Mmm."

The next day, Ran woke up still aged eighteen. His good mood was shattered, however, when he went downstairs and saw Yohji on the phone with Manx. Talking about him. Behind his back. The others forgave him for trying to strangle Yohji with the telephone cord. Yohji did not.

Later that day, Yohji was still pouting about being strangled, and Ran was still pouting about being talked about behind his back. Schuldich was upset that Yohji would do anything behind Ran's back. Brad was (to his own confusion) upset that Schuldich was upset. Farfarello was mad that Yohji had been strangled. Omi and Nagi were upset that the phone had been ripped out of the wall. Reiichi, Queen, Masato, and Yuushi were upset that their first real day with Weiss was a bad day. Ken and Naru were happy, but for different reasons. Ken was still ecstatic about Ran's acceptance of his proposal the night before. Naru was happy because one person in the house besides him was not succumbing to the bad mood permeating the building. Needless to say, the shop wasn't opened that morning.

At around noon, Manx showed up carrying a thick envelope. She took one look at the eleven grouchy assassins and rolled her eyes. "Would all of you stop! Yohji called because he was worried about you, Ran. You had no right to strangle him. However, Yohji, you should have at least informed him. Now, I want to see the two of you make up. That includes facing each other and shaking hands."

Ran and Yohji stood and walked over to each other. Yohji gave Ran a sheepish grin, which Ran returned, ducking his head slightly to hide his face. The two shook hands, and the entire room lost its hostility.

"Thank you. Now that that's taken care of, I would like to inform you of what Kritiker knows about Ran's condition. Oh, and Bishop, would you please get your cat? She's about to jump out the window." There was a startled cry following Manx's announcement while Reiichi rushed to get his cat. A few moments later, Manx shook her head at all the attention the cat was receiving from the dark-haired man.

"It's okay," the man crooned while petting his cat, "You're safe now."

"If we could please get back to business?" Queen asked, also rolling her eyes at her teammate.

"Look, Naru likes computer games, too!" Omi announced, looking up from the computer screen, where Naru had successfully beaten another level in the game the three 'youngests' were playing.

"Let's start with information concerning everyone," Manx decided. She turned to Queen before asking if the other woman needed to know anything about Weiss. At her affirmative nod, Manx started. "We'll start with the leaders, then."

"How about you and I start?" Queen asked Manx. The redheaded woman nodded in relief at having a place to start.

"Alright. For those of you in Crashers who weren't paying attention when I came to get Ran, or when I dropped him off with you, my real name is Kitada Hanae. My age is not relevant. For you in Weiss, this is Queen. If she wishes to tell you her real name while she's with you, good. She was known only as 'Queen' when she joined us."

"That's because that's my real name."

"What?"

"My first name is Queen. I forgot my last name awhile ago. And no, I will not tell you my age, either."

Hanae nodded and started to continue when she was interrupted again. This time it was by Ken. "How come we don't get to give our own names and ages? Why are you the one introducing us?"

"Because I'm the only one who knows all of you. Now if I may? Weiss' leaders are Fujimiya Ran, who you all know, and Crawford Brad, who is a twenty-six and a clairvoyant. Then come Kudou Yohji who's twenty-two, and Schuldich, the twenty-four year-old telepath. After them come Hidaka Ken, age nineteen, and Farfarello Jei, aged twenty. He is unable to feel pain. Last are the computer geniuses, Tsukiyono Omi, aged eighteen, and Naoe Nagi, the seventeen-year-old telekinetic.

"Crashers is made up of Queen, who you have already heard of, and Shirasagi Reiichi, the twenty four-year-old mission planner. Tanuma Masato is the oldest at twenty-nine, and he uses a pike for missions. Honjou Yuushi is twenty-two, and uses a chain whip/belt contraption that still confuses me. The youngest, Uhyou Naru is the explosions expert, and is nineteen."

"WHAT?!?! How can he be nineteen?" Omi didn't know if he was more shocked at hearing that the new 'chibi' was as old as Ken, or from hearing the result of Nagi's shock.

"It's more fun to act younger than I am," Naru explained. "It makes people suspect me less!"

"That, and we think he may have the same mental state as the blue-haired Schreient girl. What was her name? Oh! Tot," Ran couldn't help but laugh at the faces of the Weiss members at hearing the name of that girl. That was somewhere between disgust and embarrassed.

"What's wrong, Nagikins? I thought you liked Tot-chan," Schuldich teased, earning him a glare from the youngest chibi.

"I grew out of it."

"Nagi had a crush on her?" Omi asked, feeling annoyed at how often he was being surprised that day.

"Yep! He even brought their mansion down around us when he thought she had died. I thought he would kill all of us!" Schuldich confirmed.

"Is that what made the house collapse?"

"It was a mansion Yohji-kun."

"And to answer your question, yes. He's the reason it collapsed. He was upset that someone had killed his darling little Tot!"

"I. Grew. Out. Of. It," Nagi growled.

By that time, Ran was holding his sides laughing. He was barely holding himself upright. Hanae smirked at seeing her youngest brother finally able to act so free. Of course, it helped that he was back to the age he was at before all of the pain started. After a few more minutes of teasing went by, Manx decided that she had better bring it to an end if she didn't want Ran's sides to explode from his laughter.

"Okay! That's enough!" she shouted. When that didn't work, she put two fingers into her mouth and let loose a shrill whistle. Everyone turned to look at her as she straightened her skirt. Even Ran had stopped laughing. "Alright, Yohji, Schuldich, please stop picking on Nagi. And can we please get back to business?"

"Sorry, Hanae." A chorus of apologies followed Schuldich's; some more sincere than others.

"I have information on Ran's condition, if you care to hear?" A round of affirmative nods, grunts, and words followed her announcement. "From what Kritiker has found, there is no real order to Ran's rejuvenation. He will continue to get younger with no pattern, and we can't tell when the de-aging will stop. But don't worry, his age will stabilize before he ceases to be."

"Small comfort," Ran mumbled, getting depressed.

"Hey, you should be happy! You get to relive your childhood, only backwards!"

"I don't think that will help any Naru."

"Sorry."

"He does have a point, Ran. You have reason to be thankful."

"And what reason would that be?"

"If any more of that stuff had been spilt on you, you would have ceased to exist before you got home the night it was spilt on you."

"Then what makes you so sure that it won't kill me eventually with what was spilt on me?"

"For one thing, it wouldn't kill you, period. You would just get younger to the point of being pre-conceived."

"Which would kill me because, as far as I know, both of my parents are dead."

"That are," Schuldich cut in. Ran gave him a confused look before shaking his head.

"Thanks. And if both parents are dead, who's left to create me?"

"The Kritiker scientists have discovered that it will eventually wear off. When that happens, you will start growing again. They don't know when you will begin to grow again, but they do know that you ill still be when you do."

"Thanks." Schuldich wrapped his arms around his little brother and hugged him. Ran leaned into the hug, trying to draw comfort inside of himself through the action.

"I'm sorry to leave you with such depressing news, but I've got to go. I'm sorry, Ran," Hanae told her youngest brother.

Ran nodded again. "It's okay. You're not the one who dumped this all over me." Manx walked over and kissed the rejuvenating man on the forehead before walking out the door.

"So… when you're feeling better, care to explain why you were talking about that man yesterday morning?" Masato asked nervously.

"Can I see it?" Reiichi asked. Ran nodded and stood up. "Where are you going?"

"It's still in my room. That's not the kind of thing you bring with you wherever you go."

The twelve Kritiker agents watched Ran leave the room. He headed upstairs to get the letter the man had sent to him. Crashers was curious as to what had brought the memories back to their ex-member; Weiss was worried that seeing the letter, and having more people talk about it, would bring the memories back again. Before anyone could talk about the matter, though, Ran returned, carrying the envelope in a Ziploc bag.

"Um… Rannie? It's not like that letter is gonna jump out and bite you…" Schuldich commented.

"Do you know that for a fact?" Ran asked, completely unfazed.

"No, but- "

"Then don't say a word."

Queen took the envelope out of the Ziploc, and then took the letter out of the envelope. After reading through it twice, she handed the letter to Reiichi. Naru, who had gotten very impatient, and knew all too well that he would be the last to look if he waited his turn, jumped up and read the letter over Reiichi's shoulder.

Dear Orchid,

How could you run from me like that? I know you're the one who put me here. I'm in for life thanks to you. But don't worry Little Orchid. I'll come back for you. Do you want to know what we will do together, Orchid? What I will do to you? I'll make you regret ever seeing me. I will get you back for what you did to me. You can count on it.

~~~

"What?" Naru squeaked, too angry to get his voice to go any louder. A moment later, Reiichi was wishing that he could have stayed that way. "He blames you for what happened to him? Is the man BLIND? You obviously weren't the only person there! I mean, come on! Queen had him down for awhile until you came along! And then Reiichi was there, too! How STUPID!"

"Calm down, Naru. He's not going to get Ran. We'll protect him."

"Thanks Queen, but I don't need a protector."

"You obviously do! I mean, you were practically catatonic when Reiichi brought you home! And now you're paranoid from just receiving a letter!"

"Thanks for pointing that out, Yuushi, but I've got reason to be paranoid!"

"Oh? How?"

"He knows my address and my real name!"

"What makes you think that?"

"LOOK AT THE ENVELOPE!"

"Ran, Babe, calm down. He just didn't look, that's all. It's okay," Ken assured his fiancé. Ran shook his head and hid his face in Ken's shoulder. The others could barely make out the sobs emanating from the distraught redhead.

"Ran?" Yuushi called to him. "Ran, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to upset you like that, I just wish we could figure out why he's only after you." Ran looked up from Ken's shoulder, tears running freely down his cheeks.

"You think I don't?" he sniffed before turning back to Ken. Schuldich walked over to the couple and pulled Ran away from Ken. He picked his younger brother up and started to carry him upstairs. Halfway to the top, Schuldich turned back around.

"I'm taking him to his room, and I'll stay with him until he either calms down or falls asleep. Try to think of something to do about this while I'm gone, okay? Oh, and Yohji? You might want to call Hanae again and let her know what's happened tonight."

"Alright."

"Do you want me to bring up some tea for the two of you?" Brad asked, trying to feel useful even when there was nothing he could really do for Ran. Schuldich heard his thoughts and sighed, but he flashed Brad a tired grin.

"Tea would be great, thanks."

Outside, a man hid in the shadows, listening to their conversation word for word. He had smiled when Ran spoke of still being frightened, and grinned maliciously when the others had said they would protect him. He knew no one would be able to protect Ran when he came for him. After another evil smirk, the man turned and walked away, humming to himself.

A/N: How was it? Still good enough to continue? Don't worry, the real de-aging is going to occur soon. Please review and tell me what you thought of the last two chapters.