Insecure

Disclaimer: Weiss Kreuz and all of its characters belong to Koyasu Takehito & Project Weiß. All Original Characters and ideas are mine.

A/N: Well, I was quite surprised to get any comments on this so far, so I thought I'd thank both people who have commented! But they are at the bottom of the story. :P Again, this is an AU story so if the characters (mainly Aya/Ran) seem OOC I'm sorry. Doesn't help that it's been ages since I've seen the anime or even attempted to write fan fiction (please don't read my old stuff that I'm too lazy to take down xD). Again, bear with me.

Err... because it is also at the start of the story, I'll put this here instead of the bottom. I used an on going joke between my friends and I that Ken CAN NOT cook... including coffee... . ;;

Chapter 2: Don't Drink the Coffee

Akiko woke in the most unusual way possible the following morning; to a scream and breaking glass that sounded like it was coming from the kitchen. But why she could hear it way up in her room she had no clue, unless Ken got up and made coffee and disappeared again thus not warning anyone. Getting herself up out of bed, the brunette pulled her hair up into a messy bun before pulling on a pair of dark green cargo pants and a black t-shirt and white sneakers in hand, she made her way down to the kitchen to find out what was going on.

"Ohayou," she said softly not wanting to scare who ever was in there as she entered. Seeing that it was Youji and Ken she raised an eye brow as she put her shoes by the door with the other pairs.

Youji was standing by the table glaring at the male brunette who was currently mopping up a mess while avoiding the broken glass that he'd also be sweeping up when he was done mopping. Jade eyes turned to look at who entered, slightly surprised to hear a younger persons voice and not have it belong to Omi. Watching the girl for a few seconds he soon remembered who she was.

"Ohayou Uehara-san. How are you this morning?" the tall lanky man inquired moving away from the counter where Ken was cleaning. "I hope we didn't wake you up with the racket we made just now."

Akiko chuckled. "I'm part of the team now, call me Akiko. I'm doing fine, but you did indeed wake me up from my sleep. Which is surprising since I'm two floors above the kitchen," she replied. Turning her gaze to Ken she raised an eye brow.

Catching her inquiring look from the corner of his eye, Ken laughed sheepishly, but shook his head meaning he wasn't going to answer.

"Don't drink the coffee if you value your health Akiko-san. Ken-ken tends to forget that he is not allowed to make coffee in the morning. Though, he's lucky that it was me who came down to discover the coffee and not Aya. I thought Omi was up and made it already, but... he's probably awake now," Youji replied having also seen her questioning look.

"Not my fault no one else can stand the coffee I make," Ken mumbled as he moved to get the broom and started sweeping up the shards of broken glass from Youji's coffee cup. "Besides, why do I have to clean up your mess Youji?"

The older assassin rolled his eyes at the younger one but didn't answer, instead opted to leave the kitchen to get dressed. Ken sighed as the blond left and moved to dump the broken glass into a garbage bag and shook his head.

"Ano... are you working in the flower shop today? Or at all? I mean... it was too sudden for us to fit you into the schedule yet this week..."

The female brunette moved to sit down at the table and nodded. "I'll be coming in to help work later this morning if I can, but the afternoon for sure. I have to pick up some stuff from storage and drop into head quarters for a little bit, Manx requested that I stop by this morning."

As she sat there talking to Ken, the former soccer player moved to pull out some orange juice from the refrigerator and a glass before sitting down. "Oh err, would you like some?" Akiko shook her head declining the offer. With that, he nodded and thought over what she just told him. "Ok. Youji and Aya are opening this morning and everyone will be working this afternoon."

The two of them sat there for a little while talking a little bit, more like Akiko had asked what the kids on Ken's soccer team were like, and thus he did most of the talking. A little while later, Omi appeared with Aya right behind him. After they exchanged their greetings and the two males sat down at the table, Omi eating a sugary cereal and Aya drinking a cup of tea he made, thank goodness for instant hot water taps. Glancing down at her watch as Youji re-emerged from his room she shook her head.

Seven o'clock... I should get going so I can come back quicker and learn how things are run in the flower shop, she thought. Looking up at the four silent assassins, she realized how odd it was to be thrown into a group that has already been together for years. She knew Aya's silence was normal behavior, but the other three was just strange.

"Well, I have to get going. Need to run a few errands around town. Aya-san, I'll try to be back before afternoon shift starts so I can help out in the flower shop but I'll definitely be here for the afternoon shift," Akiko said timidly.

The red head simply gave a curt nod, which she was beginning to hope was also normal. Standing up she shook her head a little and went back up stairs to grab a dark green wind breaker. When she appeared in the kitchen again, Omi was also getting up to leave, bidding everyone good bye before he left through the mission room door to head towards the garage. It really would be easier if they had an easier way out than that way and through the shop, she thought as she followed Omi, saying another small goodbye.

Re-emerging in the alleyway behind the shop she was greeted with the sight of Omi still. "Akiko-san, I noticed that there wasn't an extra vehicle here. How did you arrive?"

"I walked. But don't worry about it, my car is at head quarters, it was being fixed to work with your tracking system rather than the one it used to be on," she added hastily at Omi's surprised look. "Go to school, it's not that far of a walk for me to where I'm going first. One of my friends can give me a ride to head quarters to get my car."

After a moment of contemplation, Omi nodded and pulled his helmet on and waved good bye before heading off to school. Akiko followed him out of the alley way after he disappeared and turned in the opposite direction of him when she emerged on the streets again.

"Hai hai, Akiko-chan! You know I don't mind helping you when you need it. But are you sure you can't tell me what you are up to these days?"

The brunette rolled her eyes at her dark blue haired friend of whose car she was just emerging from. "Kanako-senpai, you know I can't as it is part of the secrecy code of Kritiker, just as you couldn't tell me when you started doing other things with them. I'll call you later this week if I get a chance," Akiko replied as she stepped out of the dark blue car, picking up two bags from at the floor.

Kanako laughed and nodded. "Fair enough. Don't be a stranger to us now!" And with a final wave she drove off leaving Akiko in front of the Kritiker training headquarters. Rolling her eyes, the brunette made her way towards the building, two bags still in hand. Digging into a pocket of her coat, she pulled out an id badge and scanned it on the security box before the doors opened and she entered. The doors had just barely closed behind her when a woman clad in all red save for her oddly placed white socks and the black shirt, came marching up to her.

"Uehara-san, you seem to have made it through the night," the woman said.

Giving her elder a small bow, the young assassin smiled. "Good morning Manx. I did, though I'm surprised one of the other members survived the morning. It would have been good to know to never drink the coffee if you aren't sure who made it. Thankfully, I was warned before I even got up."

"Hidaka?"

"Yup."

Manx sighed heavily and nodded. Adjusting a few folders she held under one arm she frowned. The look on her face suddenly became more business like and Akiko knew she'd either have to take the role of Panther or Twilight sooner than she thought. "I have reports from Midnight and Dawn for you..."

Back at the Koneko...

What did I do to get myself opening with the Ice Prince this morning? I've been nice and haven't brought a girl back for a week now. I shouldn't deserve this! Youji miserably thought to himself as watered the hydrangeas that were on display outside.

Glancing inside he shook his head and frowned upon catching sight of the said red headed ice berg. Aya was sitting at one of the flower arranging tables and was sorting through orders and sorting them; though from Youji's view, it seemed like he kept shifting and re-shifting papers. Shaking his head he went back to watering the outside flower displays, rather irritated that he got the boring shift, or more like, the all day shift. Monday's were by far the worst once you looked past the weekends which they sometimes just didn't open on. Well, for the others it was the worst since they didn't enjoy the attention as much as him. Over 18 only Yotan, he reminded himself.

Aya looked up from his papers and out side to make sure that Youji wasn't slacking off as he had been know to do from time to time. Satisfied that he wasn't, he went back to the orders that they had gotten. For once, he was quite thankful that they would have another helping hand in the shop later that day, but it still didn't help the fact that they had more orders than they would probably be able to fill. Taking a look at the calendar on the wall to figure out if the month had anything to do with it, the amethyst eyed assassin frowned. It was only April, white day and Valentine's Day had already passed so that couldn't have been the reason.

Shaking his head he glanced at his watch and debated on calling his own sister for another helping hand. If Uehara-san didn't show up until closer to the afternoon shift, they wouldn't have time to fill out some of these orders and have someone teach Akiko how to work in the shop. But before he could even make up his mind, he heard a very familiar voice.

"Youji-kun! Onii-san! Ohayou!"

"Ah! Aya-chan, looking as beautiful as ever!"

"Youji," a deep, threatening voice said from behind the blond male.

"Don't kill! I know better than to try and get a date from your sister," Youji said turning around his hands up in defense.

With a nod, he turned to his sister and smiled. "Aya-chan, it's good to see you again. But don't you have classes today?"

"Only one class, but it got canceled today. Our teacher is ill and refuses to have someone else teach us for today. Are you ok Ran? You look stressed out. Either way, I figured you guys could use my help around the shop today," Aya-chan replied beaming up at her older brother whom she just latched onto in a form of a hug.

The red head's expression softened a little, which rarely happened save for when his imouto was around. Then would he be able to slip back to being Ran again. Though it wasn't even complete, for he refused to truly be Ran around his fellow assassins. "You seem to be showing your strange all knowing sister powers again. I think we will need your help around the shop. A lot of orders to start filling today. Plus... well, we got another hand on the job, we'll need someone to help them learn the ways when they show back up," he informed his sister in a soft voice.

With a nod, the girl let go of her brother and bounced into the shop and picked up her periwinkle blue apron off the hook pulling it on and turning around smiling, she headed towards her brothers annoyingly straight stack of orders and picked up a few on the top to start on, having preferred that over pruning flowers. "So, do I get to know more about this new person you decided to take on?"

"Later. Now is no the time."

The one in her brother's voice told her that it was more than just "another helping hand" and had something to do with the other part of his life; the assassin portion. With a nod she started singing softly as she began getting things ready for the first flower arrangement that was on the list. Youji had gone back to watering the plants, but had moved inside now while Ran went about and starting his own set of orders to fill.

Tbc…

Heh, cliff hanger kind of... I left one in the middle of the story . a but didn't want to end the chapter there so yeah. Have to wait for the next chapter to find out what happens! X3 Also, I want to give my thanks to the following commenters!

Kitsune: I'm glad you like this so far. especially since it has been ages since I've wrote fan fiction.

Megan: Umm... I guess thanks for that nice lovely(?) long comment. Thankfully, I've been writing long enough to know rudeness from constructive criticism. though you had some of both. I can only tell you a few things right now, my oc is not a Mary Sue and she wont be. Trust me, I've been planning this story for a few months now before I sat down. As for the characters seeming OOC, it's an AU fic, it's bound to happen at times. I've been out of the fan fiction writing loop for a while now. So, bear with me. I have a reason for doing what I did with ALL of my character, but I won't tell you anymore for it will ruin the story. Like I said, the story has been in the works for months before I sat down to write it, I never do that with stories.

R&R appreciated!