Warnings: Au, x-over, yaoi, possible violence as the story progresses, random moments of humor and/or fluff, really bad action, and mention of attempted rape
Oh and in case you guys are wondering this is roughly following a blend of the manga and the anime timelines, but mostly the manga.
Disclaimer: I own it all!
…Shyeah right.
Weiss Geräusche
'Hey Ken,
Guess what? Bad Luck is finally taking off. We've been recording our songs for our first release and a couple of concerts. We've even done some photo shoots and interviews to get our information out there. That's really all that's going on right now. It's getting crazy. You really need to come down and watch us some time. Seriously, I'll get you tickets if you say you'll come. It'd be awesome to see you again.
And I know where to find someone else you'll want to see. (poke)
Yuriko, that girl you nearly ran off to Australia with, she's in Japan at the moment. Apparently she's become a racer, just like she planned and she's doing a world circuit. She'll be in town this weekend, if you want to swing by and catch up with us.
Love,
Omi'
"Man, it's not the same without Sugar," Shuichi complained staring at the glowing screen. Not even the horrible dubbing was enough to keep him amused and distracted from his friend's absence.
"Yeah, I know what you mean. Hey, you want to go out instead of staying in to watch movies?" Hiro asked, tossing a pillow in the air. The movie really wasn't as fun without all of them there to make jokes over it.
"Nah. I mean he said he might show up. What if we're out and we miss him?" Shuichi reasoned, snagging the pillow from midair and smacking Hiro playfully.
"So abusive!" the guitarist mock complained before snatching another pillow up from the couch and smacking him back. "Well if we aren't going to do anything else," Smack! "I think I might just head on home and talk to Ayaka for a bit."
"Ayaka huh?" Shuichi flipped over the arm of the couch out of the way of the oncoming pillow. He took a step forward brought his own pillow up and around, managing to hit Hiro right in the face with it. Hiro let out an 'oopmh' sound. "So how're things going with her?"
"They're going man. She still hasn't found her fiancé" Smack! "and I've finally got her to agree to go on a date with me tomorrow."
"Oooh!" Shuichi said in a sing-song. "Sounds like progress to me. Think she'll give up on her current prospect and fall hopelessly in love with you then?" the singer tried to bring his pillow around, but Hiro had his hand on top of his head and was standing out of his reach.
"Heh, here's hoping," Hiro laughed. He dodged Shu's thrown pillow but had to let go of his hold to do so.
"Well what are you doing over here like a lame ass then?" Shuichi put his hands on his hips to demand. "Go seduce her until she totally forgets her loser fiancé!"
"Okay." Smack! The remaining pillow hit him square in the face since he wasn't expecting his taller friend to throw his own weapon at him. Shu caught it before it fell to the floor. "I'll see you later then."
He grinned as he watch Hiro rush around packing up his stuff, lost in his excitement over finally convincing Ayaka to go on an actual date with him. "Good luck."
"Thanks man. Hey if Sugar comes back tonight, then good luck with him too," Hiro spoke with a sly smirk on his features.
"Tha- Hang on! What's that supposed to mean?"
"Exactly that," Hiro spoke with an overly innocent expression. "Or am I totally wrong in assuming that you've completely fallen for him?"
"WHAT!"
"Hah! So I was right! You know it's okay to love another guy. Love is love and you can't help who you fall for," Hiro grinned.
"Shut up!" Shuichi growled threateningly.
Hiro slipped out the door before the final pillow hit where his head was seconds before. Hiro's head popped back through the door so he could stick out his tongue and taunt Shuichi with a, "You missed!" His face grew serious for a moment. "When you're ready to admit it to yourself I'll be there to talk about it if you need to. In the meantime, I'm going to go hang with Ayaka for a bit. Tell Su-kun 'hi' for me!"
Shuichi growled again to the fading sound of Hiro's laughter as he escaped down the hall. Then he stared at the closed door.
Fallen for Sugar?
No way! They were just friends. That one night didn't count because Suguru hadn't been in his right mind. Obviously, or he'd have shown signs of wanting to do so again right? Right. And anyway the other boy was totally in love with their boss. Never mind that the other keyboardist was at least ten years his senior and already married, as long as Sugar felt hope that he had a chance with Seguchi-san there was no way he'd ever want an ex-assassin.
He plopped down on his couch, and viscously flicked the button the remote to shut off the movie. He didn't feel like watching it. In fact all of a sudden he didn't feel like doing anything. He sat in the dark and stared at nothing.
A loud knocking made him jump.
Shu stared around blankly wondering just how long he'd been sitting there like that. The banging on the door continued and was joined by a loud voice calling for him. Shuichi jumped to his feet and flicked on a light; then hurried over to the door. He hastily wiped at his face, surprised to find that he had been crying.
"Oi, open up already!" came through the crack as he swung his door wide to reveal his visitor.
His eyes quickly took in long legs that were covered in black jeans that may as well have been spray painted on they were so tight. The oversized knit sweater of matching black slid off broad shoulders to reveal the dark green tank top hidden underneath. The tank top perfectly matched the dark green eyes that stared over the silver rims of a pair of smoky gray sunglasses. Honey gold hair tumbled in artfully framing waves around the striking face that was too sharp and strong to be completely Japanese. The blonde was as sexy as ever where he stood posing in the doorway. Omi felt a brief pang of regret that the other man was completely straight. The feeling was quickly replaced by his joy at seeing his friend.
"Hey Yohji! I wasn't expecting you to actually come by when I asked you to do some work for me." Omi smiled happily up at his old teammate. Yohji Kudoh had been the oldest member of the assassin team of Weiss, and had been renowned for his interest in the opposite sex. Sex in general, Omi thought with a stifled grin. After their team had disbanded Yohji had gone back to his PI life that he'd had before his old partner, Asuke, had been murdered and he'd been taken in by Kritiker. The twenty five year old was now doing very well for himself with the connections he'd made while in Weiss.
"Yeah well, that's what I wanted to talk to you about," Yohji grinned lazily down at him, but Omi could see his eyes were serious behind his trademark shades. "You weren't the only one asking me to do some profile work on Yuki Eiri-san."
"Come in." the young assassin ushered his friend inside. A quick glance down the hall out of habit, to make sure no one else was around.
"What do you mean?" Omi asked in a low voice once he had closed the door behind them.
"Hanae contacted me. She wanted me to find out everything I could about the target and his connections to one Tohma Seguchi."
'Manx is researching Eiri and Seguchi? No, not Manx. Hanae.' Omi stared up at Yohji. "So it's a personal case, not a Kritiker related one," he mused out loud.
"Theoretically? Yes," Yohji agreed.
"Have you found out anything?" Omi asked, gesturing with his hands for Yohji to follow him. They skirted around the worn old couch to reach the tiny kitchen. He began pulling the large canister out of the cabinet and started putting coffee grounds into a filter to start making some. Yohji shook his head, causing his hair to brush along his shoulders.
"Most of what I've discovered I could find out from any one of my girl friends. He's a romance novelist and just about every woman I've ever dated reads his stuff. I've even read one of his books before, just to see what the fuss was about. He's not that bad actually." The coffee dripped in the background. Omi sat down at his table and watched his friend take up a position leaning against the counter.
"But what about Seguchi-san? Someone told me that Eiri went to New York with him a few years ago and something happened there. I need to know what happened and what effect its going to have on my current job."
"Look Omi. I'm not going to say we're close by any stretch, but I know Tohma Seguchi. Hell, I've worked several cases for him in the past. He's very thorough. If he's covered something up then there's no telling how long it'll take me to actually track down someone who knows what happened and longer than that to actually find out what happened. I'll keep working on it, but…" Yohji raised his hands and shrugged before letting them fall to rest on the counter on either side of his narrow hips.
"Are you going to pass the information on to Manx as well when you do find out?" Omi asked in a carefully impassive voice.
"Actually that's what I wanted to speak with you about. Have you heard anything from her lately?"
Omi thought about it for a second. "Not since I ran into her in the park that night."
"I haven't heard anything from her since either since she made the request," Balinese said quietly, in a grim voice. "Why do you suppose that is?"
Several possibilities sprang to mind, none of them pleasant.
Bombay considered his words carefully before he decided to answer the question. "We don't know that she's dead. We'll have to assume for the moment that she's staying away from us because either Kritiker or Esset has begun to trace her movements. If we don't hear from her by the time we wrap the case up then we'll track her down."
The other assassin tilted his head to consider, then nodded. Bombay always made the mission plans. Balinese would accept his judgment for now.
Omi relaxed slightly. His eye fell on the now full pot.
"Want some coffee?"
"Sure." Yohji pushed himself upright and glided over to sprawl in a chair at the table. He waited while Omi pulled a couple of mugs from the cabinet and fixed them both cups. Plenty of sugar and cream in Yohji's and a little lighter on the cream but with the same amount of sweetener in his own mug.
"Thanks Omitichi," Yohji teased with a quick grin.
"No problem Yotan." Shuichi put heavy emphasis on the nickname, a warning that he wasn't above returning the favor. He felt a flash of triumph at Yohji's wince.
"That doesn't leave us with much to work with," Omi mused, going back to the original topic as if nothing else had been discussed. "Did Manx tell you about NG's connection with Wunder X?" Yohji was taking a sip from his cup, but he lowered it quickly, raising a hand to his chin to catch the liquid that threatened to spill.
"Wunder X?"
"Apparently not," Omi answered his own question. "The building and some of the equipment Seguchi-san bought to begin his business belonged to Esset and Kawaji. There's some debate in certain circles about whether or not Tohma was involved in the actual Wunder X project."
"But Nittle Grasper was on tour during Wunder X's release weren't they?" Yohji protested, immediately seeing the same flaw that Omi had picked up on.
"That's what I said too," he nodded. "So you can understand my interest in finding out as much as possible about Seguchi-san and the people he's surrounded himself with."
"He gave Asuke and me one of our very first cases, before he ever made it big. Part of the reason I'm doing so well now is because he's recommended my services to some of his friends. If finding out as much information as possible will clear him, then I'll work harder at getting it."
Omi stared down into the soft brown liquid in his mug. "And if what you find won't clear him?" he raised troubled eyes to his friend.
Yohji took a slow breath. His eyes fixed on a spot on the wall directly over Omi's right shoulder. "I'm not Kritiker, or Weiss any longer." Green eyes flicked to meet violet ones. "I owe him a lot."
"I owe him a lot also." 'And I promised Suguru I would protect him,' he added silently to himself. Well at least they both knew where they stood on the subject of Tohma. Thankfully they were agreed on the matter. Even if he did have some involvement with Esset, neither of them were completely willing to turn on the president.
Omi was pulled from his thoughts by a shrill ringing noise. Yohji was apparently also startled that his cell phone was going off because he jerked slightly. He had to stand up since the phone was in one of his back pockets. He quickly fished it out and flipped it open. Yohji's eyebrows went up in surprise at the name of his caller. Omi sat up straight and leaned forward.
"Well, speak of the devil." The blonde glanced meaningfully at Omi as he pressed the talk button and placed the receiver to his ear. Omi held his breath and strained to listen even though he knew the effort was pointless. "Kudoh here. Ah, Tohma Seguchi! How wonderful to hear from you again sir!" Omi stood up and went to stand beside Yohji, but Yohji leaned away so he wouldn't hear what was going on. The smaller male resisted the urge to beat his companion on the head, but just barely.
"What? Yes… Uh-hum, I see. That's very… Ah. Okay," Yohji's expression became dubious. Omi raised his eyebrows in a 'what's going on?' way. Yohji shook his head and mouthed, 'Just a sec.' He started speaking into the phone again. "I'm not positive that I would be of any use if that's the case… Very well, when you put it that way, it's hard to refuse. No, no. Of course not, I can be over in a bit. Thank you sir… No, it's not a problem."
Yohji flipped his phone closed with a grin. "Not a problem at all. I think I may have the opportunity to get closer to some of those people that he surrounds himself with. Seguchi-san wants to hire me for a new case."
"Oh Yohji, that's fabulous," Omi breathed. He flashed a brilliant grin the tall blonde and flung his arms around Yohji's neck. Yohji hugged him back, laughing at his enthusiasm.
A cough had them looking toward the doorway.
"Suguru!" Shuichi exclaimed. "How long have you been there?"
"Long enough. The door was unlocked so I let myself in." Suguru's face was carefully blank.
Omi felt the muscles under his hands stiffen and glanced up to see Balinese considering his band mate carefully. Then suddenly Yohji flashed a smile and tightened his arms around the pink haired singer before letting him go unexpectedly.
Omi nearly staggered from the abrupt loss of support but caught himself.
"My apologies. I didn't realize I would be interrupting anything." The words were as frosty as the golden eyes that regarded them both.
"Not at all," the flirty playboy responded with a wicked smirk. "In fact I was just getting ready to leave."
"Yeah, Yohji has somewhere he needs to be right now," Omi gave Yohji a pointed look. He should already be on his way to Tohma. Why the detective was still standing in his little kitchen was beyond him.
"Of course, of course." Yohji smiled angelically down at Suguru when he reached the boy, "Do excuse me."
Suguru stared stonily up at him before stiffly moving out of the way.
"I'll be back!" Yohji called from the door and blew them both a playful kiss before slinking out.
"Yohji!" Omi sighed in exasperation. Then he mumbled, "Can't he ever be serious?" Shrugging, he dismissed thought of crazy teammates from his head and turned his attention to Suguru. "Hey Sugar. How'd your business go?" he asked brightly, shifting easily back into cute and hyper 'Shuichi' mode.
"Fine."
Shuichi nearly flinched at the cold word. "Is everything okay?" he spoke, but the words faltered when Suguru turned and stalked into the living room. "Suguru?"
"It looks like movies are off for the night, so I'm going home. I'll see you at work tomorrow." This time Shuichi did flinch because the door slammed.
"Suguru?" He spoke to the empty living room. "What's- He must have heard us talking about Tohma!" Which meant that Suguru wouldn't realize that they were both trying to help. What must he be thinking after hearing them talk? And what must that have sounded like after Shuichi had promised to keep protecting Tohma?
Oh shit.