Title – Price of Forgiveness (Chpt 4)
Author - HourglassThorne, hourglassthorne@yahoo.com
Rating – R (see warnings)
Pairing(s) - Pairing yet to be specified
Warning(s) – Gluhen spoilers;
strong language; graphic
violence; disturbing content
Notes:
Status of fanfic – ongoing
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As the two men and the baby made their way out of the Kittens' House, Youji seemed to have turned into paranoia personified, especially with his daughter stirring in his arms, still asleep. Thankfully Aya's car, a titanium silver BMW Z4 Roadster, was parked safely tucked away in that back alley along with Ken's motorcycle, a white and blue Suzuki Hayabusa. Even through his nervousness at being out in the open again, the blonde had to stop and stare at the vehicles before him before turning a curious eye to Aya as he unlocked the doors.
"Hmmm… If you get paid enough to afford toys like these just by being florists, it's no wonder I was working as one back in Japan."
Aya stiffened for a second, a movement that would have been missed by anyone who wasn't as keyed to suspicious actions as Youji was at that point in time. He studied the redhead warily as Aya quickly resumed unlocking the door and motioned for the other man to get in. "Get in the car, Kudou," he ordered curtly, a tone that Youji found both heart-achingly familiar and gratingly aggravating. However, being in no real position to argue any point with him on it, Youji silently went to the opposite side and got in.
Holding Kaiya closely to him, Youji gazed uneasily out the tinted windows as they drove out of the alley and onto the main avenue in front of the floral shoppe. He slunk as far down into the seat as was humanly possible with a sleeping infant as Aya worked his way through the maze of London side streets. A tense, uncomfortable silence hung between the two of them until finally they had moved beyond the city limits and were driving at a descent clip through the surrounding countryside. It was then, and only then, that the tensed blonde finally relaxed enough to sit back comfortably in his seat, cradling Kaiya close as she stirred just enough to place her thumb in her mouth and go back to sleep.
"Aya?"
"Hn?"
Youji stared out at the open road before them, looking at nothing in particular. "What happened to me?"
Aya stole a quick glance at his passengers from the corner of his eyes. "What do you mean?" he asked neutrally as a feeling a dread started to settle in the pit of his stomach.
The blonde turned his own emerald gaze to Aya, but the redhead had already returned his focus to the road. Youji frowned. "Two years ago there was some sort of explosion. I woke up to find myself in a hospital suffering some pretty nasty wounds and having no memory of anything beyond my first name. The doctors and nurses told me they found me within the rubble of some building that had suffered some terrorist attack, and that I was the only survivor, but they didn't find any sort of identification on me whatsoever.
"You said that we used to work together for several years, and I'm assuming that includes Ken as well. So you must know more about me, about my past, about what caused me to lose my memory."
The muscles in Aya's jaw tightened as he remained silent for a long while. After quite a few kilometers had passed and he turned onto a road that began to cut into an old forest, Youji finally lost his patience with him. "Answer me, damnit!" he cursed softly, trying to keep his voice calm and even so as not to wake Kaiya. "You have to know something! Ken said that we were… we ARE friends. So you have to know more about me than just my family name. I want to know who I am."
Aya tried to keep his face neutral, tried to hide the pain that twisted at him from within at the memories he had of Youji's former life and his subsequent "death". When keeping his face blank proved to be too much for his warring emotions to allow him to accomplish, however, he settled for narrowing his amythest eyes and glaring at the blonde. "Keep it down, Kudou, or you'll wake that damned noisemaker up."
"Damned noisemaker?!" Youji's eyes widened, then narrowed into their own scathing emerald glare. "You fucking prick!" he snarled venomously in a barely contained whisper. "How dare you?! You son of a bitch! First chance I get I'm beating the shit out of you for that! I don't care if you want to be some damned antisocial secretive fuck with avoidance issues with me, but don't you dare insult Kaiya in my presence again!" The baby in question then stirred and whimpered in Youji's arms, sensing her father's foul mood. Distracted by the child, he fussed over her, rocking her gently in his arms and humming a soothing melody to settle her back to sleep.
Thankfully for Aya, by the time that Youji had gotten his daughter settled once more, they were pulling through the massive wrought iron gates and were making their way up the driveway leading to a castle-like manor tucked away deep within the forest. As he drove up to the main entrance, Aya noticed that there were two people waiting for them at the front door. One of them was Mihirogi, as prim and polished as she always looked. The other, however, was…
"Mamoru!" Much to Aya's continuing surprise, it was Youji who addressed the young man waiting for them with relief and welcome as soon as he opened the door and began to step out. Omi offered the taller older man a warm smile as he moved forward to greet him.
"Youji-kun! I'm so glad to see you're both ok. What happened? You and Kaiya were supposed to follow me back to my home right after the funeral. And then you vanish and no one knows where you've gone."
Youji shook his head. "I'm sorry Mamoru, but can we talk after I've set Kaiya down. She's really tired and I need both hands free to wring someone's neck later." He shot a chilly glare back at Aya, who had stepped out of his car and was gazing at Omi intently.
"Come right this way, then," Mihirogi said as she came forward to place herself between Aya and Youji. "We've got a pair of rooms set prepared upstairs for you two, including one with a crib for your daughter."
"I'd rather that Kaiya slept in the same room as myself, if that's not too much trouble," Youji said as he allowed himself to be led away by the dark-haired woman. They continued conversing as they stepped into the manor.
Once Youji and his daughter were safely out of sight, Aya approached Omi and broke the silence between them. "Omi… What the hell is going on? Why is Youji here? Why are you here for that matter? Who is after him and his daughter?" He glared at the smaller young man, though it seemed to have no effect on him whatsoever as Omi's face grew grim and serious and not a little anguished.
"Aya-kun," he started, not quite meeting his friend's intense violet gaze. "Something bad has happened to Youji back in Japan… I will give you all the answers I can, but we need to wait for Ken to arrive." Omi took a deep breath, as if to settle ragged nerves that obviously were rubbed raw from jet lag on top of everything else that he wasn't revealing at the moment. He then stared up at Aya with pleading in his weary pained eyes. "Please, Aya-kun, I know that Youji is probably bothering you with questions about his past, and you don't want him to find out about anything… Hell, I haven't even told him that we were friends before his amnesia either, but please don't upset him anymore, especially about his daughter. You don't know what he's been through."
Something in the sound of Omi's voice made Aya feel as if his heart had plummeted to the pit of his stomach. He nodded solemnly. "We'll wait for Ken then… And I'll keep my distance from Youji till he cools down some."
The younger man nodded and turned to walk with Aya back into the manor. "Aya-kun?"
"Hn?"
"It's really good to see you again."
"Likewise, chibi."