Don't speak
I know just what you're saying
So please stop explaining
Don't tell me 'cause it hurts

Ken pulled away. "But Aya, I..."

"You don't have to give me your answer, now," the redhead began to walk back to the trailer. "We have to get back to the trailer. Yoji and Omi are waiting for you. They called Omi home from night school so we can discuss what we're supposed to do."

"You have to hear this, Aya, I don't want to..."

Aya didn't stop walking. "He's waiting for you, Ken.

He wants to know what you want," in a lower tone, he added. "I don't want to hear what he said from your lips."

"What did he tell you?"

"All that I needed to know."

Don't speak
I know what you're thinking
I don't need your reasons
Don't tell me 'cause it hurts

"Where's Ken-kun?" Omi inquired between sobs when Aya got back to the trailer.

The redhead ignored him.

Poor sweet Omi, had no idea what was going on between his teammates, despite the fact that he had to endure all their mood swings. He blinked innocently and turned to Yoji in askance.

"He has a lot in his mind," the playboy responded absently.

Ken finally appeared looking tired and depressed. "So what's on your minds?"

"Siberian. I see Abyssinian has told you," Manx said softly. "Kritiker can't do much for you, now."

The soccer player nodded his head sullenly. Yoji moved over to make room for him on the couch, but Ken chose to stay at the farthest end of the small room, away from the rest. The tall blonde said nothing about this, and made no move or statement to make amends.

"What are their orders?" Aya's voice pierced the uncomfortable silence.

Manx shook her head slightly. "They didn't give any. You have the options of staying together or splitting up. They just want to make sure that you don't expose the rest of the organization."

"You mean we're on our own?" Yoji asked, his tone rising in disbelief. "Is Persia crazy?"

"Manx-san!" Omi cried out at the same time Yoji spoke. Both Ken and Aya kept silent.

Manx forced helplessness out of her voice. "All you can do for now is pray that they don't find you."

A flash of steel and then Aya's sword was across Manx's throat. "The heavens are deaf to the cries of those consigned to hell."

"Aya-kun!" Omi.

"Aya, have you gone mad?" Yoji.

"No, Yoji, I'm just doing what I should've done long ago."

A steely expression remained on Manx's face throughout this ordeal. She stared past the blade and into Aya's purple orbs. "Go ahead, Fujimiya Ran, kill me. But what good will that do? Nothing at best and bring Kritiker after you at worst, but it's definitely not going to help." She stole a glance at Ken.

Aya grunted. "I don't care."

"Then do, it," Manx challenged.

"Aya-kun, let's hear her out first!" Omi pleaded, trying to get the Weiss leader off the informant.

Surprisingly, it was Ken who spoke for Aya. "What's to hear? We're trash, and we'll be burned by the fires of hell, what's wrong with that? Don't you think that's a fitting end?"

"Ken-kun..."

"Snap out of it, all of you!" Yoji called out, becoming the voice of reason. "We haven't been driven into a corner, yet, we can still fight. If you ask me, we have a better chance of surviving together, and all of you acting like deranged children will not help us or our situation!"

Aya lowered the shining blade. "You're right. Kritiker or no Kritiker, Weiss is still Weiss. We are Weiss."

Manx nodded, satisfied. "Then, I'll report to Kritiker your decision. Beginning tonight at midnight, all of your connections with Kritiker will be severed. Is that clear?"

"Crystal," Yoji affirmed.

"Fine," Aya snapped.

Omi lowered his head. "Yes."

There was no answer from Ken. After his short speech, he had gotten lost in his thoughts again.

"I'll see you when I see you," Manx left with deceptively friendly words.

Our memories
They can be inviting

"Oi! Aya, some help here," Ken called out as he strolled into Koneko no Sumu Ie carrying a large potted plant. "And smile a bit, while you're at it," he teased as the redhead took the opposite side of the pot.

Aya frowned.

Omi shook his head. "You know, Aya-kun, the smile is supposed to go the other way around."

The girls that surrounded the three boys giggled, their twittering voices irritating Aya more than anything. "I bet you have a lovely smile, Aya-kun," a nameless girl encouraged him. "You could attract anyone with one smile."

"Even just one small one, Aya-kun," another girl pleaded.

Aya ignored them, but he couldn't ignore Ken's soft whisper in his ear. "I wouldn't mind seeing that," he ribbed.

Pale cheeks colored, matching his red hair. It was almost as if Ken was flirting with him.

Several girls squealed noticing this. "Aw! He's blushing!"

"If you're not buying anything, leave," was all that Aya managed, but with flushed cheeks and a racing heart, he wasn't very convincing.

But some are altogether
Mighty frightening

"Ken!"

The wind lashed against their hair and its cold pierced angrily through their wet clothing. Salt water stung the Weiss leader's eyes as he searched the roaring waters for the missing Siberian. "Damn it, Ken, where are you?" he hissed before readying his throat for another round of shouting.

Omi shivered under Yoji's long assassin coat. "Ken-kun was near the support posts of the hall before the explosion," he told them pulling the torn black fabric tighter around his shoulders. "It's possible that he didn't get out."

A few more explosions sent the waters into a more turbulent dance. Seeing that the longer they waited the more danger Ken would be in, Aya began to systematically remove his assassin gear to make it easier for him to move under water. Yoji stopped him. "I don't have time for this, Yoji."

"You're upset and angry. You're not thinking straight."

With that, Yoji ran to the edge of the water and dove into the turmoil of waves threatening to swallow him alive if he wasn't careful.

"Yoji-kun!"

Minutes passed and Yoji did not resurface, or if he did, neither Aya nor Omi chanced upon him. Of course, with the chaos surrounding them, it was close to impossible to pinpoint where Yoji or Ken could be. As each second passed, Aya agonized over what could have happened.

What if the gigantic columns had crushed Ken and killed him even before the water could do anything to him?

What if Schwartz got to him first?

What if...

Omi watched him nervously. "You're not thinking about going after them, are you, Aya-kun? It'll be too dangerous for all of us."

Logically, Omi was right, of course, so Aya steadied himself and calmed his nerves. Only his clenched fists betrayed his frustrations and fears.

Sympathy marked the younger assassin's face for a brief moment that ended when above the billowing winds and the crashing surf, he heard police sirens crying out their presence and the urgency of their mission. "Aya-kun, the police are here, what should we do?"

We can't leave them here...I can't leave Ken here...

Aya hesitated and pulled out the communicator issued to them for the mission. Just by looking at it, he could tell that the salt water had already short-circuited the system. He stared at it blankly. ...I can't let Ken die without telling him how I feel.

"Aya-kun, we don't have much time!" Omi cried out, getting ready to fight his way past the police if he had to. "I don't want to leave them any more you do, but we can't help them if we're captured here!"

That's true. Omi, always the logical thinker.

He held the dead communicator close to his lips. The other person holding a communicator would be Ken, and he prayed that Ken would hear. "We'll wait for you at our meeting place."

With that, he stuffed the device into his pocket and signaled for Omi to follow him. Skillfully, they avoided the searchlights and lived up to the reputation of the namesake cats. The meeting place was an alley at an obscure part of the city. If a mission went awry and they got separated, they always went there to rendezvous. If one of them went missing, a game plan was developed for his rescue. If all was well or if someone was injured, the path back to the Koneko from that alley had long been inscribed on the tablet of their minds.

When Omi and Aya got there, Yoji was already waiting for them, smoking a cigarette. Ken was also there, half-hidden in a protective veil of darkness. Seeing the brown-haired boy wet and shivering, slumped unconscious in the alley stopped the stoic leader's heart. "Ken..." he gasped, too soft for either Omi or Yoji to notice amidst the excitement of that night.

"He took in a lot of water, but he should be okay," Yoji reassured his teammates taking a puff from his cigarette. "I couldn't wait for you, the beach was already crawling with cops, and I couldn't well hold both of our heads underwater."

The marksman handed the taller blonde his coat back. "It's okay, Yoji-kun," he smiled crookedly. "You did what you had to do to save the two of you."

"You don't need this anymore?" the playboy arched a golden eyebrow at Omi.

"It's too long and heavy for me to run in, but thanks anyway..."

Idle chatter. Aya crouched over Ken and placed a hand in front of the soccer player's mouth. The warmth of Ken's breath comforted his jarred nerves. That's right, love, sleep until the day I have enough courage to tell you of the love that is buried underneath the sins of my heart.

And rain chose that moment to fall.

The tiny droplets touching Ken's face woke him up. And as he stirred, Aya could only sit there, observing, recording the momentous event in his memory. "How're you feeling?"

A soft moan. "I've had worse days."

"You okay, Kenken?" long slender fingers held out Ken's goggles to him. "You scared us back there."

Omi touched Ken's forehead checking for a temperature. Confirming that all was well, he hugged the bugnuk-user and wept softly on his chest. "I thought I'd never see you again."

As Omi and Ken comforted each other in a brotherly embrace, Yoji turned to Aya. "What's next?"

There was no answer to that question. No answer, as of now, anyway. Who knows where fate would lead them this time?

He was willing to bet his soul to the devil that the future would be much darker than tonight.

He looked up at the skies and his tears mixed with the raindrops.