Know Your Enemy
....
The sun was relentless. Without exaggeration, it was a day that could have put the Dust Bowl to shame, and the Koneko no Sumu Ie was definitely feeling its effects. Only the truly dedicated fan girls stayed out that day, each emitting considerably less noise as the heat diminished their energy. The flowers required constant supervision and begged for water every few minutes. Much to the delight of the heat-exhausted fan girls, the undercover assassins wore significantly less that day. It was perhaps the only thing the poor girls had as motivation to stay, as one by one, they dropped like flies under the heat.
Omi sat in the small garden they kept in the back of the store. Most of their merchandise was delivered to them, but as a true florist at heart, Omi decided that a flower shop wasn't really a flower shop without a garden somewhere in the vicinity. It was his pride and joy. It was also, conveniently, the only place on the block that got any sort of cool wind. Omi sighed and adjusted the water hose that was currently cooling down his beloved plants.
Ken was used to the heat. Playing soccer wasn't exactly a form of cooling process. He adjusted the sweatband around his forehead as he moved the more light-sensitive plants out of the sun. The band kept his damp hair out of his face and his forehead cool. He had a water bottle strapped to the side of his belt which he had to keep filling up at least once every thirty minutes with ice cold water.
Yohji was moping. The only heat he enjoyed was that which derived from a hundred hot, dancing bodies in a strobe light atmosphere. He needed a shower, but Ran kept bitching about how he takes up more water than the flowers. Yohji weighed the situation in his mind. He wondered what Ran was like before the cold mask of vengeance took over him. He was still a good person, he proved that to them all last week, just focused on something that made him difficult to understand. If there was anything Yohji knew, it was people.
Ran was tending to his favorite thing in the shop, the cash register. He wore a gray t-shirt with sleeves rolled up, and his usual perpetual frown. Getting dressed that day, he realized a white shirt would probably be the most effective, but no such color existed in his closet. Gray proved to be the closest thing to success. They had a mission tonight. Manx had dropped by the night before with their full reports. It was nothing to be excited about; they didn't even have a living target this time. Go in, blow the place up, the end. If it weren't for the constant threat of Schwarz on their hands, they could have easily sent Omi in to get the whole thing done by himself. Maybe with someone as backup.
~
Speaking of Schwarz, Brad sat in his air-conditioned office, thinking of who best to send on the torturous assignment he had planned this fine afternoon. Without much deliberation, he quickly had Nagi sent in to his office. The boy came to a stop at the opposite side of his desk, dressed casually, out of his usual gray uniform.
Without much further ado, Brad folded his arms over his chest and said, "The second rule of termination..."
"...know your enemy," Nagi finished as if being reminded about the curfew rules of a household.
"Right," Brad said stoically. "And, of course, you're aware of the outcome of our previous mission." Nagi sighed and nodded obediently. "If it weren't for Abyssinian, Weiss wouldn't be as difficult to eradicate as they are. He's the core, the key. I want you to find out everything there is to know about him."
"Does that mean I can have my computer back?" Nagi replied, focused only on having the love of his life safely back in his arms.
"Oh you don't need your computer for this assignment. It's more of an 'on-the-field' type of mission."
Nagi was already hating this. He had not been looking forward to a day in the sun, especially to watch the fascinating workings of a flower shop all afternoon.
"Find yourself a hiding spot, one where you can watch them without them watching you. Stay until you see something good. Find me a weakness, something I can use."
Nagi turned around to leave the room. Perhaps a day away from Crawford won't be so awful after all.
"Oh, and Naoe.." Nagi faced Brad at the sound of his name. "Don't get caught."
"I appreciate the confidence," was the reply as Nagi hoped to get this dreaded assignment out of the way. Why did he always get stuck with the boring, almost-useless-but-not-quite-useless-enough missions?
"Hey kid." The unmistakable scent of expensive cologne, that cool aura diffusing into every corner of the warm room, the German accent underlying each syllable... Schuldig.
"What?" Nagi removed his hands from the main entrance of the building and turned to face his teammate.
"Can I come?" Came the smug reply, one hand tying back his bothersome hair into a cool ponytail.
"If you want to go so badly then why don't you just take the assignment? I'm in no hurry to fry on the rooftop of some decapitating building for the sheer pleasure of watching florists."
"Really? I am, but it's your assignment, little one. I just thought you might want some company." Schuldig unbuttoned his jacket and tossed it over to the nearest chair. He'd need to sacrifice fashion sense if he was going to avoid heatstroke.
"What's the real reason?" Nagi suddenly felt a bit telepathic himself. There was no way Schuldig was willing to suffer today's heat just to keep him company.
"I have no idea what you mean," Schuldig insisted as he already made his way out the door, holding it open for Nagi.
"Crawford would kill you," Nagi stated simply as the two made their way to Schuldig's car.
"Why would he ever do a thing like that?" Schuldig asked innocently and hopped into the driver's seat.
"How'd you know about the assignment in the first place?" Nagi asked, ignoring the question.
"I was spying on you two. What's with you getting these crappy missions lately anyway?"
"What's with you being so eager to go on these crappy missions?" Nagi brought back the tired topic.
"Touche."
"Don't speak French. Japanese sounds weird enough on you."
~
Ken dropped a large potted plant in a shady corner and reached for his water bottle to squirt the last of its contents into his mouth. He unscrewed the cap and made his way to the kitchen to fill it back up with the iciest water he could find.
Yohji's chin slid off his hand and his head hit the counter with a loud thump. This heat was killing him. Ran or no Ran, he was going to take a shower and he didn't care if it was his fifth one this morning.
"Where are you going?" Ran questioned as he saw Yohji tip-toeing up the stairs out of the corner of his eye.
Yohji froze, turned around stiffly, and smiled his best sheepish smile. "Aya, I'm dying!"
"We need to conserve water." Ran's ice cold voice sharply contrasted the humidity of the air around them.
"I just thought of something, but to avoid the evil glare of doom, I think I'll keep it to myself." Yohji smirked. His mind never failed to go to dirty places.
"Wise decision."
"Oh Aya, warm up a little," Yohji sighed and walked over to where Ran was just replacing the money back into the register.
No response, but Yohji hadn't really counted on one anyway. He lifted an eyebrow and pried his eyes into Ran's head as well as he could to make the annoyed redhead pay attention to him. "We know you love us," he said casually. Now that got his attention! Not his rare words, but at least his attention. "Otherwise you wouldn't have saved our asses last week like you did. We were all quite touched."
"Is that what this is about?" The word 'eureka' flashed itself on and off inside of Ran's head. Omi's breakfasts, Yohji's smoking, Ken's cleaning; this was all some sort of attempt at compensation for bailing them out of that mess with Schwarz. Ran smirked to himself. They would, he thought.
"Ah. You noticed. It was Ken's idea, believe it or not. When you pulled him out from that tiger trap Berserker set for him, he regretted always being such a pain in the ass to you."
"Hn," was Ran's heartfelt reply. This conversation was making him uneasy. Professional assassins are not supposed to get attached to their teammates. You don't name your fish before you gut it, and you don't get attached to people whose likelihood of death is increased by about 75%.
"See! I knew you cared!" Yohji beamed with just a hint of sarcasm in his voice.
"Weren't you going to take a shower?" One surefire way to get rid of Kudou Yohji is to give him what he wants. The man wasn't a private detective for nothing.
"Why yes I was!" Yohji exclaimed and was up the stairs in no time.
Ran closed the register and leaned against the counter. Inadvertently, he had allowed Weiss to become something he cared for. Each of his teammates had slowly but surely dissipated a piece of that hard, cold mask he's intent on wearing. Yohji, for one, had a certain affable manner. It wasn't his looks that the women fell for; it was indisputably his patent charm. Omi had a certain charm as well, although strikingly different. He was vulnerable yet strong, childish yet wise, a perfect contradiction to himself. Then there was Ken. Ran and Ken had never gotten along swimmingly. They were both intensely fiery people. It certainly is difficult to quench fire with more fire, but it has been proven to work.
These three had somehow managed to slip through without Ran knowing. This, he was sure, would be dangerous.
....
The sun was relentless. Without exaggeration, it was a day that could have put the Dust Bowl to shame, and the Koneko no Sumu Ie was definitely feeling its effects. Only the truly dedicated fan girls stayed out that day, each emitting considerably less noise as the heat diminished their energy. The flowers required constant supervision and begged for water every few minutes. Much to the delight of the heat-exhausted fan girls, the undercover assassins wore significantly less that day. It was perhaps the only thing the poor girls had as motivation to stay, as one by one, they dropped like flies under the heat.
Omi sat in the small garden they kept in the back of the store. Most of their merchandise was delivered to them, but as a true florist at heart, Omi decided that a flower shop wasn't really a flower shop without a garden somewhere in the vicinity. It was his pride and joy. It was also, conveniently, the only place on the block that got any sort of cool wind. Omi sighed and adjusted the water hose that was currently cooling down his beloved plants.
Ken was used to the heat. Playing soccer wasn't exactly a form of cooling process. He adjusted the sweatband around his forehead as he moved the more light-sensitive plants out of the sun. The band kept his damp hair out of his face and his forehead cool. He had a water bottle strapped to the side of his belt which he had to keep filling up at least once every thirty minutes with ice cold water.
Yohji was moping. The only heat he enjoyed was that which derived from a hundred hot, dancing bodies in a strobe light atmosphere. He needed a shower, but Ran kept bitching about how he takes up more water than the flowers. Yohji weighed the situation in his mind. He wondered what Ran was like before the cold mask of vengeance took over him. He was still a good person, he proved that to them all last week, just focused on something that made him difficult to understand. If there was anything Yohji knew, it was people.
Ran was tending to his favorite thing in the shop, the cash register. He wore a gray t-shirt with sleeves rolled up, and his usual perpetual frown. Getting dressed that day, he realized a white shirt would probably be the most effective, but no such color existed in his closet. Gray proved to be the closest thing to success. They had a mission tonight. Manx had dropped by the night before with their full reports. It was nothing to be excited about; they didn't even have a living target this time. Go in, blow the place up, the end. If it weren't for the constant threat of Schwarz on their hands, they could have easily sent Omi in to get the whole thing done by himself. Maybe with someone as backup.
~
Speaking of Schwarz, Brad sat in his air-conditioned office, thinking of who best to send on the torturous assignment he had planned this fine afternoon. Without much deliberation, he quickly had Nagi sent in to his office. The boy came to a stop at the opposite side of his desk, dressed casually, out of his usual gray uniform.
Without much further ado, Brad folded his arms over his chest and said, "The second rule of termination..."
"...know your enemy," Nagi finished as if being reminded about the curfew rules of a household.
"Right," Brad said stoically. "And, of course, you're aware of the outcome of our previous mission." Nagi sighed and nodded obediently. "If it weren't for Abyssinian, Weiss wouldn't be as difficult to eradicate as they are. He's the core, the key. I want you to find out everything there is to know about him."
"Does that mean I can have my computer back?" Nagi replied, focused only on having the love of his life safely back in his arms.
"Oh you don't need your computer for this assignment. It's more of an 'on-the-field' type of mission."
Nagi was already hating this. He had not been looking forward to a day in the sun, especially to watch the fascinating workings of a flower shop all afternoon.
"Find yourself a hiding spot, one where you can watch them without them watching you. Stay until you see something good. Find me a weakness, something I can use."
Nagi turned around to leave the room. Perhaps a day away from Crawford won't be so awful after all.
"Oh, and Naoe.." Nagi faced Brad at the sound of his name. "Don't get caught."
"I appreciate the confidence," was the reply as Nagi hoped to get this dreaded assignment out of the way. Why did he always get stuck with the boring, almost-useless-but-not-quite-useless-enough missions?
"Hey kid." The unmistakable scent of expensive cologne, that cool aura diffusing into every corner of the warm room, the German accent underlying each syllable... Schuldig.
"What?" Nagi removed his hands from the main entrance of the building and turned to face his teammate.
"Can I come?" Came the smug reply, one hand tying back his bothersome hair into a cool ponytail.
"If you want to go so badly then why don't you just take the assignment? I'm in no hurry to fry on the rooftop of some decapitating building for the sheer pleasure of watching florists."
"Really? I am, but it's your assignment, little one. I just thought you might want some company." Schuldig unbuttoned his jacket and tossed it over to the nearest chair. He'd need to sacrifice fashion sense if he was going to avoid heatstroke.
"What's the real reason?" Nagi suddenly felt a bit telepathic himself. There was no way Schuldig was willing to suffer today's heat just to keep him company.
"I have no idea what you mean," Schuldig insisted as he already made his way out the door, holding it open for Nagi.
"Crawford would kill you," Nagi stated simply as the two made their way to Schuldig's car.
"Why would he ever do a thing like that?" Schuldig asked innocently and hopped into the driver's seat.
"How'd you know about the assignment in the first place?" Nagi asked, ignoring the question.
"I was spying on you two. What's with you getting these crappy missions lately anyway?"
"What's with you being so eager to go on these crappy missions?" Nagi brought back the tired topic.
"Touche."
"Don't speak French. Japanese sounds weird enough on you."
~
Ken dropped a large potted plant in a shady corner and reached for his water bottle to squirt the last of its contents into his mouth. He unscrewed the cap and made his way to the kitchen to fill it back up with the iciest water he could find.
Yohji's chin slid off his hand and his head hit the counter with a loud thump. This heat was killing him. Ran or no Ran, he was going to take a shower and he didn't care if it was his fifth one this morning.
"Where are you going?" Ran questioned as he saw Yohji tip-toeing up the stairs out of the corner of his eye.
Yohji froze, turned around stiffly, and smiled his best sheepish smile. "Aya, I'm dying!"
"We need to conserve water." Ran's ice cold voice sharply contrasted the humidity of the air around them.
"I just thought of something, but to avoid the evil glare of doom, I think I'll keep it to myself." Yohji smirked. His mind never failed to go to dirty places.
"Wise decision."
"Oh Aya, warm up a little," Yohji sighed and walked over to where Ran was just replacing the money back into the register.
No response, but Yohji hadn't really counted on one anyway. He lifted an eyebrow and pried his eyes into Ran's head as well as he could to make the annoyed redhead pay attention to him. "We know you love us," he said casually. Now that got his attention! Not his rare words, but at least his attention. "Otherwise you wouldn't have saved our asses last week like you did. We were all quite touched."
"Is that what this is about?" The word 'eureka' flashed itself on and off inside of Ran's head. Omi's breakfasts, Yohji's smoking, Ken's cleaning; this was all some sort of attempt at compensation for bailing them out of that mess with Schwarz. Ran smirked to himself. They would, he thought.
"Ah. You noticed. It was Ken's idea, believe it or not. When you pulled him out from that tiger trap Berserker set for him, he regretted always being such a pain in the ass to you."
"Hn," was Ran's heartfelt reply. This conversation was making him uneasy. Professional assassins are not supposed to get attached to their teammates. You don't name your fish before you gut it, and you don't get attached to people whose likelihood of death is increased by about 75%.
"See! I knew you cared!" Yohji beamed with just a hint of sarcasm in his voice.
"Weren't you going to take a shower?" One surefire way to get rid of Kudou Yohji is to give him what he wants. The man wasn't a private detective for nothing.
"Why yes I was!" Yohji exclaimed and was up the stairs in no time.
Ran closed the register and leaned against the counter. Inadvertently, he had allowed Weiss to become something he cared for. Each of his teammates had slowly but surely dissipated a piece of that hard, cold mask he's intent on wearing. Yohji, for one, had a certain affable manner. It wasn't his looks that the women fell for; it was indisputably his patent charm. Omi had a certain charm as well, although strikingly different. He was vulnerable yet strong, childish yet wise, a perfect contradiction to himself. Then there was Ken. Ran and Ken had never gotten along swimmingly. They were both intensely fiery people. It certainly is difficult to quench fire with more fire, but it has been proven to work.
These three had somehow managed to slip through without Ran knowing. This, he was sure, would be dangerous.