PAYBACK'S A BITCH

It was late in the evening when Yohji and Aya's shift had ended. The

two older men stepped into the house to find Ken watching television

and Omi trying to do his homework.

"Aya," Omi whined. "Can you help me with my homework?"

"Sorry small fry, I can't help you. I didn't go to college. Hell, I didn't

even finish high school," said Aya looking at the calculus workbook.

"Then it's math. I hate math."

"Why aren't you getting Nagi to help you?" asked Yohji smiling. "He's

a little brain child."

"I haven't heard from him since we went up to the resort." Omi turned

his attention back to his homework. "And that's been almost a

week ago."

"You don't think something happened?" asked Ken worried.

"Hardly," snorted Aya. "knowing Bradley, he probably had them at

work before they could say 'Crawford's a prick' three times."

Yohji laughed. Ken and Omi stared at him shocked. "Are you still

mad with Brad?" asked Ken.

"Not really. Well, I'm going in the kitchen to start dinner." Aya disappeared

into the next room.

"I'll be in my room if anybody calls for me," said Yohji.

"I'm going to the gym and work out for a while," said Ken getting up

and going upstairs.

Omi sat in the living room alone trying to do his homework. It was

going on eight o'clock when Omi finally finished. Tossing

the book to the floor, he leaped on the long couch, picked up the

remote and turned the television on. Just as he got himself settled in a

comfortable position, the doorbell rings.

"Dammit, it never fails." He gets up with an angry grunt and stomps

over to the door. "Just as I'm about to watch some television

someone disturbs me. Who. . ." He yanks the door open and stares

in open mouth shock at the members of Schwartz standing in the

Doorway. "Aya! Yohji! Ken! Get out here, quick!" Omi yelled through

the house for his other roommates.

Shortly, everyone rushed into the room looking agape at their

lovers/competition. And something else caught their attention, each

member of Schwartz was wearing the ribbons they had given them. Nagi

had his tying his hair back into a ponytail. Schuldig had his sewn

into his bandanna he now wore across his forehead. Farfarello had

his wrapped around his wrist like a bracelet. And Bradley had his

stitched into a lavender tie he was wearing. Immediately they hid

the look of shock from their faces and smiled.

"Hi, and what are you guys doing here?" asked Aya.

"And what are those bags you're carrying?" asked Yohji coming to

stand beside Omi. "Are you guys going on a trip?"

"No," said Bradley matter-of-factly. "We're moving in here with you

guys." The four members of the rival assassin group walked into their

new temporary home and sat down their luggage.

Nagi and Omi were excited. Ken and Yohji were stunned. Aya was

enraged. "What do you mean you are moving in here with us?"

demanded Aya.

"Well, it seems that when we went to pay our bill at the resort Sunday. All

my credit cards were canceled. And then when I went to pay with a

check. It seems that the bank has lost our account." Bradley took off

his coat, tossed it on the sofa, and looked pointedly at Aya. "So,

we had to work at the resort in order to pay off our bill." He snared

through clenched teeth.

"You should have seen it Omi. It was horrible," said Nagi snuggling

close to the blond. "they had me as a busboy. Farf was in the

kitchen."

"They had me teaching first aid to little old women," said Schuldig

growling. "You wouldn't believe some of those old coots. One of

the old geezers had the nerve to grab my ass. . . You hear me, I was

groped by grandma Moses," the German shrieked angrily.

"And they had me working as a lowly waiter," snared Bradley. Ken

and Yohji flinched in apprehension at the anger burning in the

American's eyes.

"So, what happened next?" asked Omi hesitantly.

"Well, after our debt was finally paid off today. We arrived home to

find our apartment has been sealed by the landlord because he had

not received his payment. We couldn't understand why because our

rent is paid automatically from our account." He pushes the glasses

back upon his nose. "It turns out that whoever has cleaned out our

accounts. All of them. so until we clear everything up, we are

flat broke." Then he turned to Omi. "Omi do you mind if Nagi uses

your computer?"

"No, he can use whatever he wants," said Omi smiling. "What are

you using it for, homework?"

"No, since all our equipment is locked in our apartment and the clothes

we took with us to the resort are all that we have for the moment." Bradley

straightens his tie. "It will be Nagi's job to find out where our money is and

who it was that took it." He glanced pointedly again at Aya. The red head

didn't twitch a muscle. "Mark my words, when I find out who it was that

fuck with our accounts I am going to make the bastards curse the day

their mother squatted them out."

Ken, Yohji and Omi had a sinking feeling that the American knew who

sabotage their bank accounts.

"I don't mind not having money," said Farfarello, "but whoever has

separated me from my precious knife collection. There will be hell to

pay for that."

Ken swallowed a dry lump in his throat.

"So, what's for dinner?" Bradley asked smiling at Aya. "I hope it's not

anything too heavy. Nagi has to begin his search. Do you mind

bringing my dinner up to your room?"

"My room!" Aya spurted out.

"Yes, I will be staying in your room until Nagi finds the little fuckers

that striped our accounts." The American picked up his suitcase

and walked over to the stairs. "I'm sure you boys won't mind bunking

downstairs for tonight."

"I want breakfast in bed Kudou," chirped Schuldig happy. Then he picked

up his suitcase and followed Bradley up the stairs.

"Me too," Nagi said with excitement. He and Farfarello followed the two

older men up the stairs. "When I find out who had us locked out of our

home I'm going to drop them inside Mt. Fuji."

When all four men were upstairs and out of ear shot, Ken broke down.

"Oh God. . .Oh geez, they know they know," Ken said hopping around from one

foot to the other like a small child that had to go to the bathroom.

"Calm down Ken," snapped Aya. "They don't know."

"Are you kidding," said Yohji frowning. "Did you see the look in Crawford

eyes. They know we are the ones that did it."

"I knew it. I told you we shouldn't have done this. I just knew something

like this was going to happen," whined Ken. "They're going to kill us. You

hear me. when we go to sleep they are going to kill us."

"Or worse," said Omi ominously. Now that was a chilling thought that had

even the emotionless Aya shuddering in dread.

"I don't smell anything cooking Aya," Bradley yelled down to him. "I want

some food, now."

"Hey Kudou, come get your clothes out of my closet," Schuldig yelled

down to the blond.

"Ken. Towels. Now." Yelled Farfarello.

"Omi, could you bring me up a snack," Nagi called down.

"Hey Omi, you said there was something worst that death," said

Yohji. "how about becoming servants to a group of angry

assassin."

Aya grunted and went to the kitchen. "Where are you going?" asked

Ken.

"To fix His Majesty, The Almighty Oracle, Bradley fucking Crawford

dinner," said Aya not stopping.

"They're going to make us crawl," said Yohji.

"They're going to make us suffer," said Ken.

"Then when it's over," said Omi. "They're going to do it all over

again. They're going to make us pay for making them do

manual labor."

Yohji sighed as the nasally whine of the German called to him

again. "This is going to be a long week." Yohji lowered his

head in defeat and marched up to his fate.

"The old saying is right," said Ken meekly following Yohji. "Payback

is a bitch."