Warnings: AU, implied het-scene (yeah yeah, this is still a yaoi fic... it just hasn't gotten to the yaoi yet... ¬¬;)
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Insolent Angel
Part 2
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There was no logical explanation for it.
Slumping back against a wall, Yohji glared at the marble angel incredulously. All that he had learned of matter, physics, and the invisible forces governing the world strictly stated that this was an impossibility. His dripping clothes as proof, he obviously didn't hallucinate his mission. There was just no way that he could have appeared back in his room with a statue.
Unless it was magic.
But that was, as everyone knew, only superstitious nonsense.
Superstitious nonsense which was etched into a rather bloody past. Once, a long time ago, innocents had been tortured and slaughtered for being suspected of carrying the ability to do impossible things.
But that was the past, and he had more pressing matters in the present to engage in.
Like a certain oversized-statue in the middle of his room.
Despite the fact that dawn had yet to break, the early gray light filtering through the rain was enough to illuminate the angel. Walking over to it, Yohji had the chance to study the statue as he could not in the tower room. His employer had been right. Carved down to the painstaking detail of every last feather, the angel stood its full human height, just as tall as Yohji himself. As with many classical sculptures, the figure wasn't adored in any clothing. Giant wings flared around shapely marble shoulders, feathers just managing to drape around the lower torso to provide a hint of modesty.
It was the face, however, that won him over.
High defined cheekbones, a generous mouth, and stubborn chin --features that gave the statue an regal air of command. The hair was also odd, carved so fine that unruly bangs graced the forehead, ear-tails fell and traced the eye from cheek to lean neck.
But the eyes...
...the eyes were exquisite.
Half-lidded blank pupils regarded him with an expression that could only be read as contempt. Absently, Yohji felt himself wondering what color those marble eyes would be if they were real.
Some dark and turbulent color. Perhaps dark blue...
...or violet.
And then the exhaustion sank in, thoroughly soaking his body in mind-numbing weariness. The climb must have taken much more out of him than he thought. Stumbling his way across his room, he managed to collapse on the bed just as he fell unconscious.
If he dreamt, he remembered none of it.
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By the time Yohji awoke, sunlight had long flooded into his room, tinging everything with a shade of honey. Rubbing sleep from drowsy viridian eyes, the man sat up, only to realize that he had yet to change out of his gear. He shrugged out of slightly damp clothing --the sun had nearly dried it-- and pulled on his usual leather trousers, linen shirt.
The marble angel caught his eye before he could leave the room.
So it hadn't been a dream.
Damn.
Irately running a hand through tousled blonde hair, Yohji shrugged. The delivery was scheduled for tonight, the tiresome statue would be out of his hands, and Yohji would be all the richer for it. When all the pros were laid down like that, fortuitous details (such as how the angel got to be in his possession) were irrelevent.
Humming a happy little tune under his breath, Yohji sauntered down to the kitchen.
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"Yohji! Put that back!"
Grinning, the older man stuffed the fresh muffin into his mouth. After chewing a few times, he pointed toward his full cheeks, as if to ask "do you still want it back?".
Omi rolled his eyes. "Jeez, it makes you wonder who's the more mature out of the both of us."
"Me of course: I'm older." Yohji swallowed, smirked, then reached for another muffin.
The blonde boy let out a exasperated sigh. "By the way, you're going to have to pay for that."
"Put it on my tab." Waving, Yohji sauntered out the door.
It wasn't until the Yohji was out of sight when Omi discovered that the entire stock of custard creams had mysteriously disappeared from their tray.
"YOHJIIIII!!!!!" echoed through the back alleyway of the inn, but by this time, all the inhabitants of the street were too used to this occurance to pay it any mind.
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The walk to Shrient was comfortably short. By the time he reached the curtained doors, his mind was completely distracted from his conundrum of an job.
"Yotan! It's been a while!" slim arms wrapped around his shoulders "Where were you? I was starting to get worried!"
"Schoen, you know I can't afford to visit you beauties every day." giving the blonde girl a rakish grin, he looked around the brothel. "Where's Neu?"
"No fair!" Schoen attached herself more firmly to Yohji's back, her ample cleavage pratically rubbing against his shoulderblades, "You always take Neu! Why not one of the rest of us, Yotan? Why not me?" a pretty pout.
"Me too! Me too! Toto wants Yotan-chan too!" the blue-haired girl ran into the room and glomped Yohji.
"Y-yo Toto-chan."
Toto detached herself and held up her stuffed bunny. "Usa-chan wants to play with Yotan-chan!"
"I, uh, think I'll pass Toto-chan." Yohji managed to bit down a gulp of apprenhension. Tot had a mind of a 4 year old, but possessed the body of a hormonal teenager. Things like that shouldn't mix. But she still had clients. Her most recent one was apparently someone named "Masafumi-papa". Yohji surpressed a shudder. Pedophiles.
"Awww..." tears trembled in the girl's eyes "B-b-but Toto wants to plaaay...."
"Tot, leave Yohji alone. It's bad for business when you scare away the customers." A crisp, sharp voice cut in.
"B-but Heruuu-chaaaaaan--!"
Hell gave the girl a look. "No buts. Go."
Thinking this over, Toto (not surprisingly) came to the only conclusion she could considering her mentality. "Okaaay!" detaching herself from Yohji, she bounced toward the back room. "Bye-bye Yotan-chan! Come back and play with Toto-chan some other time, okay?"
"Uhh... sure." once she was out of the parlor, Yohji threw Hell a grateful look. "And you look as stunning as ever, Hell."
Leather straps shifted as Hell placed a hand on her hip, painted lips twisting up into a smirk. "And you wouldn't be up for a little 'fun', now would you Yohji?"
"No fair, Hell!" Schoen tightly pressed herself against Yohji, "I saw him first!"
"Well, I'm the one he's interested in..."
Truth be told, Yohjji was interested in neither of them, and was started to have serious doubts about his plan to work off his excess tension. Schoen, though she seemed soft and feminine, had a rather large affinity with whips, and Hell lived up to her namesake --the woman thought that castration was the funniest joke brought on mankind!
"Actually, I was looking for Neu. Is she in today?"
"Yes, she's upstairs, finishing up." Hell gave Yohji a rather bemused smirk, "Looks like she's a popular girl today. Of course, we could occupy your time much better." Hell leaned forward and licked his ear.
Yohji slipped out from between both Hell and Schoen's grasp and feigned cheer. "Ah, I see! If she's busy, I'll just come back later!"
"Yohji?" the low, impassive voice announced Neu's arrival from the side door.
"Neu!" Yohji let out a silent sigh of relief. Being fought over by the scariest women in town wasn't exactly a placating experience. "I thought you were upstairs!" a pointed look at Hell.
The said woman smirked. "It was worth a shot."
Neu gave Yohji another apathetic look before putting down the groceries and starting up the stairs. Yohji followed quickly, feeling the weight of Schoen's glare on his back.
Reaching the second floor, Yohji took a moment to study Neu as she unlocked one of the rooms. Short, soft hair, so dark it was nearly blue, deep brown eyes... it was so easy to imagine that she was Asuka poking at the lock with a paperclip, half-giggling and half-cursing as she apologized for forgetting their keys in the room.
The door unlocked, but reality hit when there was no triumphant squeal. Neu gazed impassively at him as they walked into the room.
Asuka was dead. Nothing would bring her back.
Yet, Yohji found himself pretending as he and Neu sank into the sheets.
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By the time Yohji returned from Shrient, dusk had fallen. According to plan, he had floundered away his entire day, and had barely enough time to bathe and dress before it was time for his meeting with his employer. Pulling on his usual cloak, the man lazily sauntered to the downstairs tavern of The Canary.
Yohji ordered a vodka shot.
And waited.
And waited.
And waited.
"Balinese?"
Yohji looked up from his (once again) empty drink at the red-haired woman. "Who wants to know?" he slurred
The woman grimaced, which led Yohji to insinuate that his breath wasn't all that great. "The cat stalks at midnight. My name is Manx, and I've come on behalf of my lord and your current employer, Persia."
The password. So, this was the contact who would take that damnable statue out of his room. An alarm went off in Yohji's mind as he recognized the cat-breed aliases. Sitting upright, the man regarded the woman who called herself 'Manx', all pretense of being inebiated forgotten. "Weiß?"
Manx nodded, her red curls gave a slight spring. "Two days ago, Persia-sama gave you a job of retrieving a statuette, yes?"
"Yeah, it was a hell of a j--"
"Do you know why he asked you to do so?" Manx interrupted him.
Giving the woman a suspicious look, Yohji tilted his head and feigned nonchallance. "Isn't that something you should ask your beloved 'Persia-sama'?"
"Persia-sama's dead." the woman bit her lip aprehensively, "He was murdered early this morning, quite gruesomely. He... the only thing that was of any importance in his safe was his detailed description of the meeting with you. We.. I... was hoping that you had some sort of clue why he was killed."
"The only thing that he wanted me to get was the statue..." Yohji wondered if he should tell Manx about how the statue mysteriously appeared within his room. And then decided against it. He couldn't allow such a beautiful woman to view him as a delusional idiot --at least, not on the first meeting. It simply wasn't done.
"Could I see it?"
"Don't see why not." giving the nervous woman a rakish grin, Yohji slung an arm over her shoulder, "Of course, there could be another reason why I would want a young, attractive woman in my room."
"Pervert." she laughed.
"And loving every minute of it." he retorted.
They made their way upstairs, down the hall; Yohji unlocked his door.
"So, this is the infamous statue..." Manx strolled around the kneeling marble angel, green eyes scrutinizingly downcast. "It's beautiful..." she breathed, "I wonder why Persia-sama wanted it so badly... any ideas, Balinese?"
No voice answered her.
"Balinese?"
Turning, Manx was met with the priceless image of Kudo Yohji, self-acclaimed thief extrordinaire, gaping like a fish.
"What is it?"
Yohji's mouth opened and closed soundlessly for a few minutes before he managed out:
"The statue. I-It was standing when I left the room..."
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Updated and all ready for reviewing! X3
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