Chapter II

The rain had begun sometime around midnight and had kept Aya awake since then. Now, few hours before the dawn, he really felt like sleeping. He laid on his bed, listening the pounding rain, the noises of the city and Yoji's even breathing. If there was a silent moment, he closed his eyes and tried to catch sleep. It was no use. His mind was tired yet his body refused to act along.

Aya took another glance on Yoji's watch the man had left on the bedside table. 4:56 AM. The redhead sighed deeply and ran his hand through his hair. He needed to rest. There was no question about it.

A low rumble was heard through the window and thick curtains. Now, a thunder would be just what he needed to be able to sleep.

With another deep and frustrated sigh he swung his legs over the side of his bed and sat there for a moment with his head in his hands. If it was Tokyo he was in and if it wasn't raining, he would go out for a quick jog around the neighborhood. But, obviously, it wasn't Tokyo he was in and it was, in fact, raining.

He stood up, walked by the window and carefully pulled the curtains aside. The hotel wasn't quite in the busiest area of London and therefore there weren't too many people walking the streets. And the rain, most likely, as well as the early hours had something to do with the small amount of by-passers.

There would be a mission tomorrow – no, today – and the four didn't have a proper plan. Yoji's suggestion most likely was nothing more than a joke and thus couldn't be used. It would be easiest just to go into the restaurant, kill everyone in sight and then run back to the hotel.

Aya grunted to himself. His plan wasn't much better from Yoji's.

He mentally viewed the map of the area the restaurant was in and tried to create a picture of the surroundings. He managed to come up with a somewhat proper vision, but it most likely differed too much from the original to be valid. He needed to see the place before being able to do any planning.

There had been a map on the table few hours before and it still lay there. Aya grabbed it and quickly located their hotel close to Lancaster Gate underground station. He then looked for the location of China Town and once it was found, he eyed the map for a moment longer, pondering for the wisest route. He knew there was no danger of being attacked by their "enemies" since he wasn't officially on a mission yet, but still he wasn't too interested in walking along the main streets. After a while of consideration he came to the conclusion that he'd take a seemingly innocent walk though Hyde Park and then pass through some of the smaller streets until he'd hit Regent Street. From there he'd walk down Shaftesbury Avenue and further to China Town.

Aya kept the basic look of his route in mind and repeated it multiple times while getting dressed. When he was certain he'd remember it even in his sleep, he took his coat and headed towards the door. He had already opened it when he remembered something; he couldn't just up and leave without knowing the time. Without a thought he snatched Yoji's watch from the bedside table and took off.

The park was peaceful. The gates had apparently been opened just a little before Aya reached them and there were only one or two people in the park itself. Probably some sport-enthusiasts who needed to start their day at 5 AM with a nice jog amidst the mighty trees no matter if it was raining or not. In fact, the rain had let go a little, Aya noticed. It was but a drizzle anymore.

Aya didn't hurry his steps but didn't hold up either. It had been fifteen past five when he had entered the park and he had calculated that he'd be back in about an hour and a half. If everything went well, that was.

He was quite determinate that there was nothing that might keep him from doing his investigations, but one could never be too careful. For a brief moment he thought about turning back and getting a weapon of some sort but then he remembered that he had Yoji's watch. He had used it before and knew how it worked, so it would serve as protection if there ever was need for it.

The distance between Hyde Park and Gerrard Street was quickly done and Aya stood by the gates of China Town. He didn't even consider taking a look at the central area but directly headed for the outer regions. The restaurant he was looking for could be found somewhere around there.

Finding what he was looking for took him a half an hour and this caused him to silently curse his destroyed schedule. Walking in the chilly rain wasn't too pleasant, either.

The restaurant was indeed in the shadiest end of the area and seemed to be quite innocent. Of course, that was the point. And besides, it wasn't the particular restaurant that was their target, but the man who would do some business in there later that day.

"Taking a little walk, eh?"

Aya turned around when he heard the words spoken in Japanese. He was faced with a typical Japanese man in his early forties. Aya pulled out a little wire from the watch.

"As a matter of fact, yes," he replied and hoped that the conversation wouldn't be too long. He was already late from his earlier plans. "And I was just about to return," he added, trying to hint the other man that he wasn't into a long conversation with a stranger.

"You are, eh?" the man huffed. "An interesting place isn't it? Would serve well as a criminal hide-out or such," he noted.

This alerted Aya. The man didn't play honest game here – nor did he, but it was another thing – and Aya wasn't interested in seeing how the game would end. He told the man he should already be on his way back and turned to leave.

He stopped when he heard a click of a gun behind his back.

"I don't think so," he heard the man say. "You look like someone who might be sneaking around."

"And I presume you don't?" Aya replied calmly while turning to face the man again.

"Oh, but I'm a whole other thing," the man replied and grinned slyly. "Now, who do you work for and why?"

This was, without a doubt, one of Futsuyaki's henchmen Aya was facing. The man would demand Aya to give him information and whether or not he gave it he'd end up dead. The only option was to send the man to meet his maker, before Aya himself would.

Aya hid his hand to his sleeve and pulled out a little more wire.

"Do you think I would actually tell you?" he asked. He needed to get the man distracted if he wanted the privilege of a surprise attack.

The man stared back at him and quickly dropped his gaze – along with his gun - towards Aya's sleeve. "Whatever you're hiding in there; drop it," he commanded.

Aya took advantage of the moment and the lowered gun. He yanked the weapon from the man's hand and had him stilled with the wire before he even realized what had happened. The wire was neatly wrapped around the man's neck but Aya didn't quite strangle him yet – he still had use for him.

"Who are you?" the man asked with a choked voice.

Aya grinned briefly. He loved it when they asked this.

"Weiß," he replied dramatically and tightened the wire around the man's neck a little.

"Do you work for Futsuyaki?" he then asked with his most demanding tone. The man barely nodded.

"Will he be able to tell?"

"What?" the man swallowed the end of the word.

"That you are dead," Aya declared and the man shook his head.

"Thank you," Aya nodded and broke the man's neck. The body fell limp to the ground and Aya dragged it into the shadows, hoping no one would find it until after Weiß had completed their mission. The redhead then took off as if he had never been in the alley.

He could really understand why Yoji liked his wire.

It was already half past seven when Aya opened the door of their hotel room and stepped in. Yoji appeared to still be asleep. Therefore the redhead tried to push the door close as silently as possible but forgot the fact that it didn't work for hotel-room doors, and so the door slammed shut, probably causing a mirror to shatter somewhere in the lower floors.

Yoji stirred and groggily opened his eyes. It took him a moment to focus his gaze on Aya who was standing in front of the door with a soaking wet coat on.

"What time is it?" the blonde asked with a great yawn and rubbed his eyes.

Aya glanced at the watch on his wrist and told it was about half past seven. Yoji nodded to the information and repeated the question he had asked in the night before: Why in the hell was he awake in such early hours? He received no answer.

"Wait," Yoji said. Aya turned towards him. "Is that my watch?" the blonde asked.

"Yes," Aya replied simply as he took off his coat and left it over a back of a chair. The garment soon created a little pool on the carpet.

Now Yoji was forced to really wake up in order to do some thinking. He sat up and leaned to a wall behind his back. He then glared at Aya from under his brows.

"Where the hell have you been?" he asked, putting the stress on the word 'hell'.

"Out."

Aya didn't explain any further. He only sat down on his bed, took the watch off his wrist and then put it back on the bedside table.

"Did you kill anyone?" Yoji sighed.

"I did."

Yoji sighed again and rolled his eyes. "Who and why?"

"One of Futsuyaki's henchmen. He had a gun against my head." Aya took off his sweater and threw it to the direction of his coat. Yoji couldn't help but to think if Aya's famous neatness only ruled his actions when he was at home.

"Tell me you at least got some information," Yoji said blankly.

"We already know all we need to know," Aya told.

Yoji sighed in frustration. "What the hell possessed you to go out this early in the morning, anyway?"

"You wouldn't believe me if I said I was having a little walk outside China Town, would you?"

"I wouldn't."

Aya just shrugged. "Too bad."

It was a little past eight when all the four of them gathered together in the dining hall of the hotel to have breakfast. The mission wasn't mentioned by a single word except for Yoji's brief notion on how Aya had done a little research on his own. Omi gave the redhead a criticizing look that told him a scolding would follow.

The four ate their toasts and drank their teas in silence and then gathered to Omi and Ken's room for a little meeting.

"Aya," Omi began and looked at the redhead with an expression of a mother who is about to lecture her children about bad behavior.

"There's an alcove just opposite the restaurant. It's full of cardboard-boxes and trashcans and because of the shadows it'll be easy to hide in there. There is only one possible place to park a car and it's in front of the restaurant. It'll be more than easy to take out the driver and at least some of the guards before the target returns from his meeting," Aya explained. Omi was still glaring at him.

"You said it's easy to hide in the shadows. What if someone just happened to be hiding in the shadows you mentioned and just happened to see you when you were walking by The Mighty, Famous Shadows?" he asked sarcastically.

"Someone did see him," Yoji told, and Omi's glare turned few shades darker.

"I killed him," Aya defended himself. "There was no one else there, I can assure you. And the body won't be found in a while."

"Did you ever pay a single thought to the possibility that if Futsuyaki hears that one of his men has been killed, he'll cancel his meeting?" Omi asked despairingly.

"He won't have time. And he has a league of assistants. He won't be able to tell if one of them disappears, nor do I think he'd care."

Omi hung his head in defeat. This was Aya anyhow - the man who though before he did and even did the thinking with an incredible speed and accuracy. What could one do but to trust his sense of judgment? But only if the said sense of judgment wasn't used to judge someone whose name began with 'Taka' and ended with 'tori'.

"All right. You got us information even though you put our team and all our asses on the line. Great. What now?"

Ken stopped throwing and catching a miniature soccer-ball he had and spoke up. "Would planning the mission be too bad?" The others turned to look at him and simultaneously raised their eyebrows.

"What?" Ken shrugged. "Just a suggestion."

TBC

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