Chapter 3
As Yohji pealed out of the dirt parking lot, a large black van was pulling up. They sped past the van and noticed that it was Brad and Farfello who were in the large vehicle. The van's breaks squealed as it came to a sudden stop and spun around to follow them.
"Come on, Yohji, they're gaining on us," said Ken beside him.
"Get off my back," yelled Yohji as he took a sharp left turn. "Is everyone okay back there?"
"We're fine," Aya said holding onto Faye. "Hurry and loose them."
"You got it," Yohji said with a smile. "Hold on."
"Oh no," said Ken as he sank into his seat.
It took Yohji only a couple minutes to loose Brad and Farfello. Once the van was out of sight, the red convertible slowed down as they entered the city limits. Yohji parked his car out front of the flower shop and they all took deep breaths. After a couple minutes of sitting in the cool air, they all climbed out of the car and proceeded inside. But before Yohji could even set foot inside the shop, it began to rain.
"I hate this weather," said Yohji as he ran back over to his car.
They all proceeded upstairs to their apartment as Yohji fought with his car. Omi led Faye to the living room as Ken dashed into the kitchen to fetch them something to drink. Aya waited at the top of the stairs for Yohji to catch up with them.
As Yohji climbed the last stair, Aya stopped him and said, "She'll sleep in your room while she's here."
Yohji's eyes lit up at those words. "Good idea," he said as he took a step forward.
"You'll stay with Ken or on the couch," Aya said stopping him.
Yohji's bright face quickly darkened as he followed Aya into the living room. Ken and Omi sat on either side of Faye as they drank their tea. Faye looked up as the two older men entered the room.
"Thank you all for rescuing me," Faye said with a gentle smile.
"No problem," Yohji said watching her. "I'm Yohji Kudou. This young man is Aya Fujimiya."
Aya nodded his head as he leaned against the wall.
"You've already met Omi Tsukiyono," said Yohji pointing to Omi who sat to Faye's right. "And the young man to your left is Ken Hidaka."
"It's a pleasure to meet you all," Faye said. "My name is Faye Antoinette."
"You're Faye Antoinette," Ken said as his eyes widened. "No wonder I recognized you."
"What are you talking about, Ken?" asked Yohji.
"She's the smartest girl in all of Japan," said Ken. "You graduated at the age of…"
"Thirteen," Faye smiled as she sipped on her tea. "Then I graduated from college at sixteen."
"Wow," Yohji said as he continued to watch the young lady before him. "Have you ever been out clubbing?"
"Yeah all the time since two years ago when I turned eighteen," said Faye.
"Your twenty?" said Yohji. "You look like your seventeen."
Faye's cheeks quickly darkened from the comment. "Oh my," she said looking down at her cup of tea. "Um, thank you."
Aya walked forward and knelt before the blushing lady. "You'll be staying in Yohji's room while you're with us," he said cupping her chin in his hand.
"I'll be back," Yohji said as he disappeared around the corner.
"Omi," said Aya looking at the young man.
"Yes, Aya-kun," said Omi.
"Will you go find some clothes for Miss Faye to wear outside?" asked Aya.
"Of course," Omi said as he disappeared.
"I don't need any clothes, Mr. Fujimiya," protested Faye. "This dress is just fine."
"You're under our protection," Aya said looking into the dark blue orbs before him, "and if you go outside with any of us I would rather not have you being spotted by Schwartz."
"You're quite right, Mr. Fujimiya," Faye said after a moment.
"Please call me Aya, Miss Faye," he said with a warm smile.
"Please call me Faye," she said returning the warm smile.
"These are all that I could find that might fit," Omi said as he entered the room with some clothes in his arms. "Including some night shirts."
"Thank you so much for your kindness," Faye said as she stood up and took the clothes from Omi. "How can I repay you all?"
"Don't worry about it," Aya said as he left the room. "Ken, what's for dinner?"
"How does take-out sound?" said Ken.
"That's fine," said Aya as he ventured upstairs.
"How do burgers sound you two?" Ken asked tipping his head backwards.
"Burgers sound good to me," said Omi with a wide smile.
"Sounds better than cup-of-noodles," Faye said. "That's mostly what we ate while I was with Schwartz. Sometimes we would go out to a nice restaurant but that only happened twice out of the two months I was with them."
"You were with them for two months?" said Ken. "Wow, that sucks."
"No not really," said Faye with a sad tone. "Actually, they saved me."
"Schwartz? Helping someone?" said Omi. "That's new."
"I was in a car accident with my step-father," Faye explained looking at the floor. "We were traveling in the mountains and suddenly our car lost control and went off a cliff. Nagi says I was lucky to be alive. You see, somehow I was left unharmed except for some cuts and bruises. They all took care of me while I healed. Well except Farfello. They kept him far away from me."
"Does anyone know you're alive?" asked Omi.
"Nagi called my mother and told her I was okay," said Faye in a shaky voice. "He even let me speak to her and convince her that I would be home soon. But their boss had other plans. He wanted to use me for ransom."
Faye's body began to shake. Her knees gave out from under her and she fell to her hands. Tears rolled down her tan cheeks and fell onto the wood floors. Omi and Ken moved closer to comfort her but stopped, being unsure of what to do once they reached her.
Suddenly, Yohji hurried into the room and scooped the crying girl into his arms. Once he was standing straight up, he turned on his heals and out of the room he went. Omi and Ken glanced at each other as they quickly followed out of the room. Ken, remembering the clothes on the floor, quickly retrieved the clothes and hurried after his comrades.
"Are you okay?" asked Yohji as they entered his bedroom.
"I don't know," Faye said crying into his shoulder.
Yohji carefully laid the young lady on the bed and took the clothes. He then said, "Go get dinner ready."
"Okay," Ken said disappearing around the corner.
"You too, Omi," Yohji said turning his back to the young man. "Close the door behind you." Without a word, Omi obeyed. "It's been a while, Faye," he said sitting on the edge of the bed. "Do you even remember me?"
"How could I forget you, Yohji," Faye sniffed as she looked at him. "You're the only guy I ever connected with."
"I'm sorry I couldn't have stayed with you," Yohji apologized as his fingers intertwined with hers. "I wanted to but I couldn't."
"There's no need to apologize," she said gently squeezing his hand. "I told you we would be together again."
"It's been three years," he said with a soft smile. "I even risked seeing you face to face."
"I know," she said kissing his hand. "I saw you each time. Always on my birthday and Christmas."
"The first year I came up to you," he laughed. "But after that I tried my best to watch from a distance."
"I wouldn't have cared if you came to see me in the middle of the night," she said. "I was always glad to see you though."
"I couldn't risk you getting caught in the cross fire," he said taking his hand away from her. "Not again. I couldn't live with myself if you got hurt or even killed."
"It still hurt you know."
Yohji looked at her. "I'm sorry."
Faye shook her head. "At night every once in a while, I have nightmares about that night. And when I wake up, it burns like it did while it healed. But you know what hurt even more?"
"Not having me there by your side."
Her smile seemed to brighten the room. "Exactly. But you were always with me. In my heart."
Yohji leaned down and gently kissed the young woman. When their lips parted, he said, "I still have some of your clothes that you left at my place."
"I'm amazed you still have those," she said.
"We use them on missions sometimes," he confessed. "We put Aya in them and sometimes Omi."
A gentle knock came at the door before it slowly opened. Omi poked his head inside and shyly smiled at them. "Um, Yohji," said the young man. "Ken says he needs you to drive him."