Chapter Two: "…just aren't as motivated to purge this world…"
Author: Hot Soup11
The schedule was the same as it always was: get up, shower, set up shop, work until Omi came home, and kick open Yohji's door for his shift to start.
Before climbing the stairs to complete the last of the ritual, Aya sighed and rubbed his temple with his thumb. He had taken a hit from a burly henchman and ended up colliding with the wall on the last mission; and although he took painkillers, they hadn't seemed to kick in just quite yet.
As always, just in case Yohji was actually awake, the redhead knocked on the door before jiggling the handle… to find no one there. Aya knew Yohji fell into depression at times, as they all did, and he escaped with clubs and women, not returning for a day, sometimes day and a half. The situation hadn't occurred for awhile, so Aya decided he'd only yell at him mildly. In the meanwhile, he'd have to help Omi downstairs as Ken was coaching soccer.
- - -
Two days later, as promised, the investigator returned and Yohji was sent to him via wheelchair despite his complaints.
Faults are, Yohji began his checklist before arriving at the private room, telling him my name in previous questioning, killing a man, killing a man using weapon, loosing weapon, not finding some way to communicate with Weiss.
"Greetings Kudoh-san. I trust you are in better health?" the policeman asked.
Better health… was questionable… but a weaker medication allowed him to speak and think coherently. "Not quite, but I'll heal," he flippantly replied.
"I'm sure. Now, let's start all over from the beginning." He paused to switch on a tape recorder. "Tell me in your own words, what you were doing on Wednesday November 20 at three in the morning."
"I was at a bar, getting drunk. I took a taxicab up there so I wouldn't have to worry about driving back home." He wondered if Seven was in the impound lot yet. By now the meter must have run out… tch... like Yohji would ever take a taxi when he could avoid it. "The bartender sold me a bottle for the road; I finished that off and decided to go to a grocery store for a pack of beers. Get the beers, those guys get out their guns to rob the store, and one of them comes up to me and tells me to give him my wallet and earrings. Fight breaks out; I get knocked down and end up with their knives in my hands."
"We found this," the policeman stated curtly, then threw Yohji's watch on the table. "Our department figured out how to work it. Tell me why exactly you might be in possession of this sort of weapon."
"It's… a watch."
"Please, Kudoh-san, we saw the marks from the wire on the robber's throat, now why do you have this?"
"You see, sometimes I get food stuck in my teeth. You know, when you're on a date and you've got all this--"
"No fool would mistake this for floss."
The door opened abruptly, saving Yohji from whatever nonsense he was going to have to feed the cop next.
"Thank you for doing your job, sir, we'll be taking over this case now," Manx stated brusquely. Birman entered and waltzed over to the tape recorder, turning it off and pulling out the tape.
"Under whose authority--"
Manx placed a folder into the hands of the policeman, stood back, and crossed her arms, glaringly impatiently at the man. The man took his leave unwillingly, leaving the Kritiker agents with the wounded assassin.
"Yohji you absolute moron," Manx insulted. She picked up his watch off the table and viciously threw it at him. "You nearly exposed us! What made you think you could get away with killing people just like that?! We should have let you stay here and sweat it out with the police station. There was no target. You weren't on a mission. And you murdered someone."
"I was drunk, Manx. It was in self-defense. These guys wanted my watch, okay? What would you have like better: common thieves pawning it, or me killing some evil in this world, like I normally do?"
"Drunk? That's it then Kudoh: no more drinking. While we're at it: no women or clubs."
"Manx, you're not my mother. Don't think you can just ground me like this," Yohji admonished.
Birman broke in, "You made a mistake, Balinese. Consider this… a probation, of a sorts."
Yohji rolled his eyes and drawled, "Oh, and who'll be my "probation officer," you Manx?"
- - -
"We can accept missions or refuse to take them. That is the way of Weiss. Forcing me to take responsibility for his actions is ludicrous."
"Aya, this is a command. As Omi has school and Yohji could get Ken to let him out of the Koneko, you are the only one we can rely on."
"Abyssinian, you know what will happen if you disobey a direct order from Persia…" Manx threatened casually.
The katana-wielding assassin held his tongue for a few moments before nodding in agreement.
What Yohji did shouldn't be punished. He is right. We kill evil. He gritted his teeth and began walking up the stairs, then turned towards the Kritiker agents.
"Where is he hospitalized?"
Birman followed him up the stairs and handed him a mission folder. "Everything you need to know is in here."
They're treating this more like a mission than anything else. Yohji's "probation" shouldn't even happen. They don't know what it's like to have an innate ability to just serve out death, even justly deserved.
Abyssinian turned abruptly on his heel and slammed the door behind him.
"Hmm… do you really think six months is going to change anything?" Birman asked thoughtfully.
The redhead put her head in her hands and kneaded her temples. "Not at all, I just hope he's more careful. Aya's not going to go easy on him even if he does think Balinese is right. Balinese could have completely exposed Kritiker… but we really too much upon Weiss already. We can't operate without them… the other teams… just aren't as motivated to purge this world."
"That's what I thought," her brunette partner sighed in reply.
- - -
After a full week of hospitalization, Yohji was definitely ready to leave. He figured he'd take a cab back to the Koneko and get one of his teammates to check the whereabouts of Seven.
Much to his surprise, Aya was waiting with his own car to pick him up. The implications lead him to believe he was the probation officer.
"This'll be one helluva six months…" Yohji muttered under his breath before reaching Aya.
- - -
Next Chapter: Rules and boundaries are established.
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-_-; I suck at updating. It's been busy over here, but things have cleared up and the chapters will be longer and better than this one. This was mostly done in a rush; excuse the choppiness and lack of an in-character Aya.
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Reviews aren't necessary for me to continue, however they are MUCH appreciated. ^.^