Author's Note: If you've been checking out my livejournal (linked as my homepage in my profile, or same link listed in chapter 6) I've decided to finish up 50 of my fanfiction project by the end of this week at least. So hopefully after I finish this fic today, I'll be on schedule to have at least 3 of the 4 new fics done and posted by this Saturday night.

In case you need the link again for my fic archive, I'll place it in here since chapter six messed up the link. All you have to do is get rid of the spaces since doesn't like to post urls regularly, apparently. (How stupid.)

www. livejournal . com / users / saikenyuu

Hit the "friends" link at the top of the journal in order to see individual constant updates of story and project progresses.

As usual, I'd really appreciate reviews! Yes, I still work ahead without them, but I'd still like to know every once and a while that I have the interest and attention of my audience.

Disclaimer & Warnings: Everything was listed first two chapters and chapter 7.

Pairing: Hints of a wavering RanOmi, one-sided SchuKen (conclusion to this pairing), continuing YoKen.

Fic Note: Featured Pink song: "Tonight's the Night."

Welcome to the last of the "past" chapters. The final two chapters will be picking up where the first chapter left off. Hope you enjoyed this fic, it's almost over, guys!

Gelächter des Engels

Ran relaxed slightly as Ken came into the shop on time. Ken seemed to be in the same chipper mood as he had been before. The way he should always be, Ran mused. After a while, he moved closer to Ken as the brunette was watering the some flowers while trying to arrange others at the same time. Ran picked up the flowers Ken was attempting to arrange and started arranging for him. Ken smiled at Ran, causing the red-head's heart to flutter a little bit. "Thanks..."

Ran nodded. "Not a problem."

It was a slight uneasy silence between them for a while. Ran broke the silence first. "So...you and Yoji..."

Ken raised an eyebrow at Ran, but then refocused on the plants he was watering. "Um...what about Yoji?"

"You two seem awfully close lately..."

Ken seemed to space out for a minute, thinking about Yoji, then he closed his eyes and laughed. "Yeah, you can say that."

"Are you two..."

Ken sighed as he put the water can down, staring outside the shop window. "A couple? Actually...I'm not so sure."

Ran raised an eyebrow in curiosity, but didn't say anything, waiting for Ken to continue-which he did. "I really think that we have something going on together...but I get thise feeling that he's not all there, you know?"

Ran nodded slowly. He knew exactly what Ken was talking about. He already had a run-in experience with Ken's intuition. "I'm just trying to see where this all goes...I mean, I think Yoji is still deciding himself. I wouldn't blame him if he went back to fully mingling with his women though, all he has to do is say the word, and I'll let him go."

"Just like that? You don't like him or something?"

Ken chuckled. "I do like him, a lot now...actually. But I don't think he's ever been or tried to be with a guy before..."

"So then why do you think he is trying to be with you?" Ran didn't understand.

Ken laughed. "Well, we went to this club together recently...and I think something happened. He was probably trying to make one of those girls he's always with jealous or off his back, so...he kissed me."

Ran felt that twinge of jealousy again. "But you know..." Ken looked off dreamily, "I can't get mad at him. I was the one that kept kissing him even when I could tell he wanted to stop. When he broke away, I also was the one who put him on the spot and asked him how he felt about me."

Ran raised an eyebrow. "Why would you do that?"

Ken rubbed the back of his neck and smiled an embarassed smile at Ran. "Well, that was kind of my mistake too. I didn't plan it out as anything forceful. I was actually expecting rejection, anyway. I wouldn't have gotten mad at him for it, it's understandable. But I think he was afraid of me going deeper into my seclusion that he just said he was interested in me."

"Did anything come out of it?"

Ken laughed again. "Yeah, it's weird. Something did come out of it. We've been kind of dating for a couple days now...I'm going to wait a while and see what he does. Even if nothing more comes out of it, I won't be able to thank him enough. He gave me comfort, and he snapped me out of my bad emotional daze. At least I know that even after we break up, he'll probably always be around if I need some kind of comfort...he's really a nice guy. It's no wonder the ladies all fall for him," Ken blushed as he was saying this.

Ran sighed. Ken looked up at Ran with a questioning gaze. "What's wrong?"

Ran was going to say something when Omi entered the shop. "Nothing..."

Omi stopped and looked at Ken and Ran a moment, not sure what to make of their closeness. Omi felt a bit disappointed. Ken looked between Ran and Omi, confused for a second before returning to watering his plants. The rest of the day seemed to go along normally. Omi eventually brightened when Ken cracked a couple of jokes, and Ran smiled when Ken broke a few plants, though on most other days he would have scolded the clumsy athlete.

Right at the end of his shift, Ken decided it was time to go home. "Omi! Can you do me a favor?"

The chibi nodded and smiled. "Of course, Ken-kun, what is it?"

"Let Yoji know that I'll be waiting for him at my house, please?"

Omi blinked. The members of Weiss usually kept their homes private from one another, slight privacy for themselves. "Oh...okay, sure, Ken-kun! Does he-"

"Yeah, he knows. Thanks," Ken smiled and left the store.

Ran silently followed behind Ken, and Omi waited a couple minutes before following them both to the back of the store. He took the short cut and instead of going outside to look outside, He went to their storage closet in the back and cracked open the window slightly, listening in on their conversation.

"Ken..." Ken stopped.

"What is it, Ra-Aya?" Ken asked softly.

Ran let a flicker of hurt go through his eyes when Ken denied using his real name. "Ken...I told you that you could use my real-"

Ken turned and shook his head slowly at Ran. One hand was held loosely at his side, and the other was holding tightly onto his helmet. "Ra-" Ken started again, then frowned, "Aya...that was before...I don't think it's right to do that anymore if you won't even let Omi say it."

"Will you use it if I let him-"

Ken shook his head again. "It doesn't work that way, Aya. Yeah...it's kind of weird to call you that since I call your sister that more...but I have no more reason to call you that or see her anymore...so I'll get used to it."

"She'll still want to see you."

"I'll have to decline until I'm sure that you are completely over me, Aya."

"Hn..."

Ken laughed and ran a hand through his hair. They stood in silence a while. "Does he make you happy?" Ran managed to say finally.

Ken looked away for a moment, and then smiled at Ran. "Yeah...he does..."

Omi listened to the rest of their conversation, and tears sprung to his eyes. He got up and left the closet when he heard Ken's motorcycle start up, and he went back to work as best he could, trying to dry his tears and failing.

"I'm so sorry, Ken," he thought, "But thank you very much..."

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Ken rushed to the door when he heard a knocking on his door. He smiled when he saw Yoji. He was looking stylish, as usual. Ken blushed when he realized he didn't have any decent things to wear. Yoji laughed when he saw Ken in his soccer gear. He shook his head. "You know what?"

Ken smiled nervously. "What?"

"I'm not even going to bother looking through your wardrobe this time."

Ken laughed. "Sorry."

Yoji shrugged. "It's all right. I can handle a clumsy double left-footed athelete any day. Let's go."

Ken ignored the insult and laughed, taking Yoji's arm. Yoji's arm tensed a moment, but relaxed quickly. He could get used to Ken. Ever since he started dating Ken, Yoji realized that he had been thinking and dreaming of Asuka less and less. He was even less haunted by nightmares of the people he had killed. It was as if Ken's positivity was negating everything. Or maybe it was just his own personal optimism forming.

Ken noticed the change in how Yoji was responding to him and felt a bit of hope. They had a chance. He walked with Yoji down to the blond's convertible so that they could go on one of their late night dates. Yoji planned on doing this more often from now on. He had cut down his other late night dates to nothing. He was going to give love a try again. With Ken. And he wasn't going to let the opportunity pass him by.

Neither noticed a shadow that had been waiting for them to leave overhead, and nor did they notice the fact that Ken hadn't locked his door when they left. As soon as they left the complex, the shadow went inside of Ken's room and stayed their a while before coming out and disappearing as quickly as it had come.

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Ken yawned after their dinner at Yoji's house. It was a roomy three-floor townhouse. Ken had immediately been impressed by it. They were very comfortable in each other's company. After a while, Ken broke the comfortable silence. "Nngh...Yotan...?"

"Hm...what is it, KenKen?" Yoji asked tiredly.

"It's getting late, I need to go home now."

Yoji sighed. "You have to leave now?" he whined, "Can't you just spend the night here?"

Ken shook his head. "I really want to but...I want to go home tonight."

Yoji laughed and tapped Ken on the nose. "Oh, all right. There's no denying you anyway. Let's go."

They both got up slowly and went towards Yoji's car. They drove home in sleepy, yet comfortable, silence. As they neared Ken's house however, an uneasy feeling settled on both of them. As they heard a lot of sirens and even saw a few ambulances pass by them. Ken grew restless. "Yoji? How much longer?"

"Hm? Oh. Just two more minu-" Yoji's eyes widened as he stopped his car right in front of the apartment complex, "Shit..."

Ken looked up in horror. The firefighters were attempting to put out flames. Flames that were coming from his apartment. The residents of the complex were all evacuated outside, watching. Yoji jumped out of the car to follow Ken as the young athlete seemed to sprint towards the stairs leading to the upper floors, only to be stopped by the police. "No!" Ken screamed, "No! I have to get through!"

"I'm sorry, sir," an officer replied with some sympathy, "It's too dangerous, I'm afraid we can't allow that."

"No!" Ken screamed again, he attempted to bypass the guards and would have succeeded-had Yoji not held him back.

"Yoji! Yoji, let go!" Ken pleaded, "Please let go!"

Yoji held the brunette firm. "I'm sorry, Ken! You can't go up there! I don't want you to get hurt."

"No! You have to let me go, Yoji! My things! My things are all in there!" Ken was crying hard now, out of frustration.

"Ken..." Yoji soothed, "We can buy you new things...there's nothing you can do about it now..."

"No! No! No..." Ken dropped to the floor, crying, "You don't understand, Yoji...everything I've worked for is in there...my first soccer ball...my first jersey...my trophies...Yoji...Yoji please...I don't have to take it all...I just need those few things...Yoji...!"

Yoji saw the sadness in the boy's eyes and knew what he had to do. He gave the officers a cheeky grin. "Sorry. Gotta do what we've got to do!" he said before pushing past the surprised guards with an equally surprised Ken along with him. The officers chased them, but Yoji and Ken were too quick. "Ken! Swear to me you'll only get what you have to and then you'll come right out!"

Ken nodded, "I promise, Yoji!"

They kicked into the building, it was nothing different from their usual missions. Flaming buildings weren't such a problem. It was a slight problem when there were authorities involved, however. Blatantly ignoring the orders of authority was not a good idea, but here they were, doing just that. Ken quickly gathered the things he had been looking for, Yoji taking from Ken what he could. It wasn't as much as Yoji was expecting, but apparently they saved everything Ken wanted to prevent getting caught by the flames. The door almost fell in when they were leaving. Yoji pushed Ken out of the way and the flaming door frame landed on Yoji's back, which he pushed away with his momentum, but the flames were still on his back, burning through his clothing. He didn't tell Ken though, as they quickly made their way down the stairs.

Ken breathed hard, dumping the items into Yoji's convertible when he heard a thud and yelling behind of him. He turned around and to his horror, there was Yoji holding Ken's box of photos and a trophy, while sprawled out on the ground, losing conciousness and his back on fire. He hurried back and pushed aside the things Yoji was holding and tried to pry the flaming jacket off of Yoji while an officer was trying to swat out the flames with his own jacket.

Eventually, the flames on both Yoji and in Ken's house were put out, and Yoji was being whisked away to the hospital for his burns. They weren't anything too serious, but the burns themselves could get worse if they weren't treated right away. A neighbor volunteered to watch over Ken's possessions and Yoji's car while Ken rode with Yoji in the ambulance, but he wasn't listening to his neighbor. He was so mad at himself right now. He couldn't believe that out of his belief that he couldn't live without some material items that could have been replaced somehow, he had almost lost someone far more important in his time of selfishness.

Meanwhile, Shuldich was standing in a tree nearby, watching this whole scene flow with amusement. He was leaning on the tree with a wine glass in one hand, his free arm revealing the bandage around the scar Ken had left behind. He raised up the glass in an invisible toast, smirking.

"And that, my friend, was for ruining my perfect skin."

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They let Ken see Yoji after almost six hours of him waiting in the waiting room. Ken rushed into Yoji's room. He ran to Yoji's side and looked over at Yoji's bandaged areas. The whole top half of him had been burned a little here and there somehow. Ken let the tears fall freely as he held onto Yoji's unburnt hand. He looked up when he felt Yoji's hand twitch. Yoji's eyes fluttered open and he seemed to be trying to orient himself with the room. His kind green eyes landed on Ken, who flinched away slightly. Yoji gripped Ken's hand as tight as he could at the moment and winked at the brunette, who gave him a sheepish smile.

"Did we save everything...?"

Ken nodded guiltily and started crying again, hugging Yoji who flinched slightly at the pain, but ignored it. "I'm so sorry, Yoji! I'm so sorry! I won't do it again!"

Yoji chuckled. "Hey...hey...don't worry...those things were very important to you, I understand."

Ken shook his head furiously. "But I could have lost you today if something worse happened!"

Yoji smiled. "Well, nothing bad did happen, so no use in sulking over it. Come on now, I've been burnt worse before. This is nothing."

Ken looked up and smiled in slight comfort. Yoji ruffled Ken's hair, getting absorbed in those beautiful chocolate brown orbs. "You just say the word...and I'll do anything for you, Ken. Just like today."

Ken looked at Yoji silently, enjoying Yoji's touch. Yoji smiled. "I would give up even my life for you."

Ken's eyes widened slightly. "Why...why would you do that, Yoji?"

Yoji laughed, his sea-green eyes sparkling with life, something that hadn't been in his eyes for years. The last person to have seen that sparkle had been Asuka. Now it was an expression for Ken to enjoy. "Isn't it obvious, Ken? I love you."

Ken's jaw dropped slightly, and then his eyes seemed to match Yoji's sparkle as he jumped on top of Yoji and hugged him. "Oh, Yoji! You mean it!"

Yoji laughed. "Yeah...I do..."

Their lips met. Yoji closed his eyes, content. "I'm sorry Asuka...today...I let go of your memory."

In the back of his mind, Yoji saw Asuka smiling at him and laughing. He heard her voice echo in his mind. "Well, it's about time, Kudou."

TO BE CONTINUED...

Saiki.Kensuke.Yuuta: The chapters are getting shorter, if you haven't noticed. You know what that means, right? Two chapters left! Waaah! I'd hate to see this fic go! But all good things must come to an end. Hold your breath and cross your fingers! I will update real soon!