Kon'nichi wa Minna!
Bet you didn't think you'd ever be seeing another part of this story, did you? Well, I got a little bit of help in redirecting my focus for the story *hugs Rae* and now I think we're making headway in kicking that Writer's Block off our back. *waves flag* For those of you who've been sticking with me and encouraging me, I can't thank you enough, you're the reason I kept trying to get this damn chapter out. But anyhow, on with the formalities.
DISCLAIMER: I don't own anything and even if I did I wouldn't tell anyone...too many fanservice requests, my mail box would always be full...not a pretty picture.
WARNING: If you haven't gotten the hint by now there's really nothing I can do to save you.
The Koneko Wars
Chapter 8: Free The Beast
By: Whisper
"Okay you won, stop being so fucking smug about it," Yohji grumbled as he glared into his mug of coffee. Ken had yet to return from his morning jog and Ran was taking the opportunity to cast gloating smirks at the blonde whenever he looked up.
"He was so tight and smooth, Yohji, you would've loved it," Ran whispered into his ear just before Omi came down the stairs to the kitchen, bleary eyed and in search of breakfast.
"Shut the fuck up Aya and get the Hell away from me, I don't want to hear about how wonderful fucking Ken was." When he heard a gasp Yohji turned around and saw a dumbstruck Omi turn and run back to his room.
"Well done Kudou, you've shattered Omi's illusion of the perfect home, now you can go upstairs and explain things to him. Be back in time for your shift." Ran picked up a tray of food and turned toward the living room. "I'll just go wait for Ken to get home, I'm sure he'll be famished after his jog."
"Go fall on your katana you jackass," Yohji snarled, picking up his coffee and trudging upstairs to Omi's room. "Oi, bishounen, open the door," he called once he'd reached his destination. There was no answer so Yohji tried the doorknob. "Baka shonen, leaving the door unlocked when he's trying to hide. Oi, Omi!"
"Yohji-kun, I'm really busy right now." Omi could be heard rustling with something in his closet.
"Hey listen, what I said in the kitchen, just ignore it, okay?" No reply came. "Okay good, just wanted to make sure we're all on the level...have fun at school...bye." Yohji ran from the room as quickly as he could and went to the living room, hoping to spoil any plans that Ran had. When he arrived at his destination he found Ran lounging provocatively on the couch. "You look ridiculous Fujimiya," he chuckled, hoping he was convincing. "The pose looks too forced, your shoulders are tight and your leg will lose it's circulation before Ken gets back."
Scowling Ran adjusted his position. "Is that better?" he asked quietly, startling Yohji.
"What's going on Aya?" Yohji shoved Ran's legs off the couch and sat down, regarding the redhead with serious eyes.
"Nothing," the redhead snarled, moving to get up but Yohji grabbed his arm, hauling him back down.
"Game's over Aya, you won, now cut the shit and tell me what's wrong?" The lanky blonde winced at the admonition that he'd lost. If Ken wants Aya then I can at least make sure Aya doesn't fuck this up.
"This isn't me," the redhead snapped. "All this posing and preening disgusts me. It's your style, Kudou, not mine." Uncertainty wavered in violet eyes and Ran looked away from the blonde's piercing emerald gaze, not wishing to see the contempt he was certain he'd see there.
"I'm home!" Ken's voice rang out from the entryway.
"We'll talk later," Yohji promised, clapping Ran on the shoulder. "Go say hi to Ken and give him a hug."
"I don't hug," Ran frowned, trying to embrace his ice once more.
"Love gets scary, Aya, just deal with it like you'd deal with a mission."
"Who said anything about love?" Aya growled, after seeing Ken head to the kitchen.
"You'd never have gotten in this far if love wasn't involved Fujimiya, I know you better than that. You can build your little walls all you want but I'll tell you this; if you back out of this now I'll never respect you again and I'll be watching you, Fujimiya, you can be sure of that. If you break his heart I'll break your neck." With a flourish Yohji swept out of the room, grabbing his keys on the way.
With a sigh Ran lifted himself up off of the couch and headed toward the kitchen where Ken was busy making himself a sandwich. "Morning Ran," the brunette smiled, waving.
"Morning," Ran responded as brightly as he could, which is to say that he managed not to sound irritated but failed to sound pleased.
"What did Yohji do this time?" Ken asked, noting the lingering frown across the redhead's features.
"He's Yohji," Ran replied, smiling a bit.
"Come on, he's not a bad guy, he's just eccentric. You like having him around, admit it. Sandwich?" Ken buzzed around the kitchen like today was any other day, making a sandwich for himself, one for Ran who would be forced to eat something against his will, and one for Omi's lunch that would be done before the blonde boy came down in another fifteen minutes.
"No," Ran replied immediately, more out of habit than anything. In all truth, he'd been pacing about so much this morning that he'd awakened his appetite.
"Too bad, you're eating it," Ken smiled over his shoulder, wrapping Omi's sandwich in foil and placing it into his blue and red plaid lunch bag. "Say Ran, you wanna come play soccer with me and the kids this afternoon? I promised I'd go visit them and take their goalie aside for a bit and I need someone to supervise their scrimmage." After a long moment of silence in which Ran stood, stunned, Ken gulped and forced a smile. "Oh right, you probably have something planned, sorry."
"I'll go." Ran whispered, clenching his sweaty hands. "But I can't play."
"You know the rules don't you?" Ken asked, perking up. Ran nodded in the affirmative. "Then you're all set, all you need to do is referee, the kid's will understand if you don't play. Besides, I'll only be with Toru-kun for a bit then I can take over."
"Morning Ken-kun," Omi smiled as he bounded down stairs. The genki youth stopped at the bottom of the stairs when he saw Ran. "Good morning Aya-san," he greeted with less enthusiasm. Omi was by no means blind to the desires of his teammates and, if truth be told, he had a boyfriend that his teammates didn't know about, but the earlier fight between Ran and Yohji kept replaying in the blonde's mind and he couldn't help but feel a bit of animosity toward the redhead.
"Good morning Omi," Ran whispered, looking the youth in the eyes in as apologetic a manner as he could muster.
"Ken-kun, what's in my lunch today?"
"I made you a peanut butter and seaweed sandwich, put in some carrots, some Kirin coffee, and some Twinkies. Is that going to be good enough or do you want some money to get a snack on the way to school?" Casting a look at the kitchen clock Ken smiled. "There's time enough for Ran to make you some breakfast, sit down."
"I don't recall offering to cook," Ran shot back, his mouth half full of sandwich.
"That's because you had your mouth full," Ken smiled, "otherwise I'm sure you would have. Yohji picked up some eggs at the store yesterday, why don't you make Omi an omelette while I go shower?"
Stuffing the rest of his sandwich in his mouth and snarling, Ran walked over to the fridge and took out a carton of eggs. "Cheese and garlic?"
"Hai!" Omi replied, perking up. It wasn't often that Ran would cook breakfast but when he did it was always exceptional. Omi watched on in interest as Ran hurriedly mixed the omelette ingredients while the pan warmed up; it seemed he was making an omelette for everyone, even Yohji.
"Ne Aya-kun," Omi ventured as a steaming omelette was set before him. "You won't hurt Ken, will you?"
"Iie," the redhead replied, looking Omi directly in the eyes. "Eat your breakfast before it gets cold, and call me Ran." Ran moved to the counter and picked up a plate bearing another omelette and walked up the stairs. "Kudou! Come and get your food before it gets cold and you're forced to eat your usual pig slop for breakfast!" Yohji hustled down the stairs and plucked the plate from Ran's hands, then frowned when he found no eating utensils on the plate. "Sit at the table like a civilized being for once," was Ran's reply as he sauntered down the stairs and placed a plate at Ken's place and one at his own.
"You should get the Best Housewife of the Year award, Aya, this is good." For his comment Yohji received a scowl and a chopstick between the eyes. "Tsk tsk Aya, don't play with your food, it's unbecoming."
"Kudou, you have twenty second to run," Ran warned, scooting his chair back.
"What did Yohji do this time?" Ken sighed, jogging down the stair in a pair of blue jeans and a towel wrapped around his neck. "Mmmm, smells good Ran."
"Ken, Ran threw his chopstick at me!" Yohji cried, scooting his chair closer to the brunette's. "Save me!"
"That's because you were teasing him, Yohji-kun," Omi replied, scraping the last bit of food off his plate and getting up to put it in the sink. "Time for me to go to school, everyone have a nice day and don't forget to repot the zinnias today Ken-kun!"
"No prob, I'll do it after I do my watering." Ken flashed a bright smile to the departing boy then turned his attention to his food.
*******
Ran stood on the soccer field watching a thousand children running around after a black and white ball- this was not the happiest moment of his life. One child had been upset when Ran'd called a foul on him and had kicked the redhead in his unprotected shins before throwing mud all over his orange turtleneck and yet another child had become upset that Ran'd not called a foul and had jumped onto Ran's leg and commenced biting him through his black slacks, which were now far too stained to be of future use.
"Ran-niichan, Takuro-kun punched me!"
"Ran-niichan, he's lying, he's the one who punched me!"
"Ran-niichan, is it half time yet, I have to go the bathroom!"
"Ran-niichan..."
"Ran-niichan..."
Ran snarled and blew his whistle. "Half time!" he bellowed, nearly crushing the whistle in his grasp. Why weren't any of these children as well behaved as he was when he was a child? Didn't parents discipline their children to behave properly when in the presence of an adult? How in all Hell could Ken stand to be near these...these....things? Looking to the side Ran could see Ken standing near a tree, surrounded by fans that were demanding autographs and playing tips. With a grunt the redhead trudged through the disgustingly dirty field and over to Ken to save him. "Ken, these children have requested your presence on the field."
"Okay Ran, I'll be there in a sec!" Ken jumped up and down to gain eye sight with his friend over the nimbus of admirers. "Sorry guys, guess you'll have to come to our next exhibition game if you wanna talk, I usually hang around for a while. Bye!" Ken ran over to where the children sat, drinking water and laughing.
"Ken-niichan, Ran-niichan's sooooo cool, is he going to come with you next time too?" the child who'd kicked Ran in the shins asked, his eyes wide and hopeful.
"I dunno. Ran?" Ken turned to the redhead for confirmation but found him frozen in shock. Was this not the child that had just called him everything short of an asshole, and that only for wont of vocabulary? Was this not the child that had sought to make his time as referee as miserable as possible? And this child wanted him to come back again for more abuse?
"Hai," Ran replied, disgusted at himself for giving in to the huge brown eyes that were silently pleading with him to placate the soccer loving children.
"SUGOI!" the children cheered, some of the jumping up to give Ran hugs around his legs, forcing a small smile to chisel into icy features. These children weren't too bad...for devil spawn. He could handle them one more time, after a few months had passed.
"Half-time's up!" Ken's voice boomed before he blew his green metal whistle. "Ran, you take that half of the field and I'll take this half."
Ran walked onto the field and placed his whistle into his mouth, sure that this half of the game would be less stressful than the previous.
*******
"I hate those children," Ran informed Ken over dinner.
"Come on Ran, they're not that bad," Ken countered, adding some pepper to his ramen.
"That Takuro child broke my nose when I bent down to help him up after that..."
"Yosuke."
"...that Yosuke not only kicked him, but me as well." Ran speared at his ramen with his chopsticks but couldn't bring himself to eat anything. After that soccer match he felt sick to his stomach and was sure the delicate organ would revolt to eating this sludge.
"But the kids love you, Ran!" Ken pouted, a noodle dangling from the corner of his mouth. "Besides, you promised you'd come back with me tomorrow."
"Tomorrow? I have to work in the shop tomorrow." Ran scowled down at his ramen before taking a bite. If he was sick to his stomach he had an excuse not to go.
"Yohji already told me he'd cover for you." Ken smiled brightly.
"Doesn't he have a date?"
"He canceled."
I'll kill him Ran thought to himself. He knew exactly what I was going to go through today and he's conspiring against me, making my life a living Hell because I won Ken. We'll see about that. "The end of the month audit is coming, I have to begin balancing the books."
"If you don't want to go you can just say so," Ken folded his arms over his chest and glared at Ran.
"Of course I don't want to go, those children are agents of evil, I've never suffered this much damage in my life! Missions are tame compared to being on a soccer field with those little beasts."
"So you're saying you're afraid of them?" Ken laughed.
"I am not afraid of children."
"Prove it."
"Fine."
"Fine." Ken smiled in triumph as he watched Ran realize that he'd been tricked. "No taking it back, you're going with me tomorrow. I'll go make sure Yohji knows he's got to work. Night Ran!" Ken grabbed his dish of ramen and trotted upstairs to inform Yohji that his plan had worked, fishing in his pockets for the 2000 yen he owed the blonde. He should've known better than to make that bet.
A/N: So what did you think? Leave me a note to tell me what you thought of what you saw and what you think you want to see. Have fun until next time.