Paranormal Files

Rating: M

Warnings: AU shounen-ai

Pairing: Ran/Ken (implied Kase/Ken)

Disclaimer: I don't own anything. I just play with the toys.

/…/ denote thoughts

Author's note: Hey HeatherR and Seph Lorraine, thanks for reviewing. I was really unsure about the last chapter since it's 'all talk and no action'. I'm really glad to hear that you guys like it. This chapter is like that, since I decided to leave the action for the next. I hope this isn't too bad either 

Seph: I'm happy you like my Aya. I love him first and foremost in the series; and it's very important for me to do his character justice. I know he comes off as callous and cold in the original series and I want to keep that. But ultimately, I want him to be a sympathetic character, because I know I wouldn't have fallen for him if he were just an abominable ass  Ken, well, he's just a blast to write. It's great to have him be fun to contrast Aya's cool. That's sort of how Ken came off as for me in the series, the undying optimist who would try to make the best out of any situation and just have fun. But enough of me babbling, on with the story!

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Chapter 4

Sleep-filled amethyst eyes flickered open to stare into darkness. It was late, Ran knew, but he made no effort to rise. Turning onto his side, he watched the fluorescent hands of his clock move, seconds, then minutes of his life ticking away into nothingness. There was no place he needed to be; no one he wanted to see. He existed only for his sister and his missions; and at the moment, neither had need of him.

A quiet rumble in his stomach roused him from his reverie; no matter how dead he felt inside, there were some basic needs that could not be ignored. 10:35pm, he had slept the entire day away; no wonder he was famished. Reclining on his elbows, he made a quick mental checklist of his housemates' locations; despite his rest, he was still not in the mood for company. He knew Youji would be out partying; and Omi would be in his room, working on the computer. That left Ken, whose schedule was still a mystery.

Ran had a feeling that the brunette was the amiable sort; more likely than not, the man would attempt to befriend him. While that was a problem that needed to be resolved, he much preferred to leave it until later. Right now, he just wanted a quiet dinner before returning to the comforts of his bed.

A soft knock drew the redhead's attention to the door. He knew it had to be Ken; his other housemates would never have come "check on him". Youji never cared enough to bother in the first place; and Omi had learned long ago to respect his need for privacy and solitude. Ran was tempted to yell "Go Away!" when a second knock followed; but he suspected it would be more effective to ignore the knocking. As friendly as Ken might be, the brunette would not disturb a tired man's much-needed 'rest'.

A few moments of silence followed. Ran was about to let out a sigh of relief when he heard the sound of his doorknob turning. It would seem Ken had less manners than he had expected. What kind of man entered another's bedroom without permission, when the owner of said room was supposedly sleeping defenselesslyin it?

A small crack of light seeped through the door, forcing the redhead to squint. He watched, as a predator would a prey, as the brunette hesitated at the door before stepping in. Though he was eager to teach Ken a well-deserved lesson for entering without permission, he waited, observing the intruder through veiled eyes as the man moved towards his desk and carefully placed a rectangular box upon it.

When Ken turned away to leave, the redhead struck. In lightning fast movements, Aya bolted from his bed to grab his new teammate's shoulders. Taking full advantage of the element of surprise, he easily pinned the more muscular brunette to the wall. Growling in his most menacing tone, he asked, "What do you think you're doing here?"

"Fuck!" Ken yelled as he found himself slammed against a wall. If looks could kill, the redhead's amethyst glare would have pulverized him and scattered his remains into the wind. Luckily, Aya was not a Craft User, which meant the fierce glower only left him a bit shaken, instead of dead. "I… uh… I'm sorry. I thought you were asleep."

"Right. And what makes you think it's okay to sneak into my room while I'm asleep?" Aya's hands tightened around the brunette's shoulders as he shoved the man harder against the wall. He was more than a little tempted to beat his new teammate into a pulp; but he had a feeling Persia would not appreciate it. That, and Ken was a Craft User. As furious as he was, he had enough sense left to not pick a fight without knowing the nature and extent of the brunette's powers.

"I wasn't trying to sneak in!" Ken exclaimed as indignation rose against the redhead's rough treatment. His team leader was nice to him this afternoon; all he wanted was to return the favor. It wasn't as if he were trying to do something bad to Aya while the man was asleep. "You missed dinner; and I thought you might be hungry…"

"First you said you thought I was asleep; and now you're saying you thought I might be hungry. Are you that bad of a liar that you can't keep your excuses straight?" On a logical level, the redhead understood his teammate's good intentions; but the fury churning in him refused to abate. His room was his private sanctuary, a place where he could shed his duties and just be himself, an empty shell waiting for his turn in Hell. He had never allowed anyone entry. Regardless of reason, Ken had no right to be in here at all!

"Damn it! I'm not lying! And how am I supposed to explain if you keep interrupting every ten seconds!" Ken had always been a hothead; and his team leader's assault on his integrity had struck one of the ex-soccer player's sore spots. Shoving at Aya in attempt to get free, he matched the man's harsh frigid amethyst gaze with a heated glare of his own.

"I figured you'll be hungry when you wake up, so I made you a bento. I was going to leave it in the kitchen, but I don 't know how long you're going to sleep, and I don't want Youji coming back and eating it, so I thought I'd brought it up here for you. If I had known you're going to be such an ass about it, I wouldn't have bothered!"

For a moment, the redhead was too surprised to respond. Ken had held his ground in the face of his most intimidating scowl! No one, except his dearest sister, had ever managed such a feat. His expression softened as his thoughts drifted to his vibrant, willful sister. She had always been his antithesis, always trying to 'save' him from his gloomy brooding nature. Within the fiery amber eyes matching his glare, he could see a bit of her in the brunette, the same determination, the same open honesty. Part of Ran wanted to reach out as he always had with Aya-chan, to bask in that warmth, even if it was just for a little while; but things were different now. He was beyond redemption; his life was no longer his own.

Releasing the brunette gently, Ran backed away with a weary sigh, "You're right; you shouldn't have bothered."

Ken frowned in confusion at the sudden change in the redhead's behavior. He hadn't expected his outburst to resolve the situation; if anything, a tiny, more rational part of him was wary that his tantrum would lead to a full blow fight. Yet, there was no mistake in the change in Aya's temperament. Before, the man was positively seething; but now, he just seemed tired, maybe a little sad even.

"Yeah, now I know," Ken quipped with a forced smile. As the silence stretched on, he could feel it, the tension in the air, an undercurrent filled with melancholy and loneliness. It was intimate, private, making him feel like an intruder inside a personal haven. Shifting uncomfortably on his feet, the brunette muttered, "Listen, I'm really sorry I came in without permission, okay?"

"Hn."

Given the redhead's reticent nature, Ken was quite certain the monosyllabic answer was all he would get. "Goodnight, then," he said as he turned to leave. The atmosphere in the room was becoming more oppressive by the second; he needed to leave gracefully before he gave into the temptation to bolt.

"Aren't you forgetting something?" Aya commented quietly to draw the brunette's attention. When Ken turned, the redhead's amethyst gaze turned towards the box the brunette had left on his desk.

"Nah, you keep it," Ken mumbled as he forced himself to look the intimidating redhead once again in the eyes. With a soft smile, he added, "I owe you one for cheering me up this afternoon."

"You don't owe me anything. I'm just doing my duty as your team leader," replied the redhead with a sigh. He was definitely not in the mood to have this talk with Ken now; but he knew he could not ask for a more opportune moment. He had to make the brunette understand his wishes to be left alone, before the man had another chance to overstep the boundaries of what he considered 'acceptable behavior'.

"I thought Crawford is team leader." Krikiter had told Ken that the Oracle was operation controller, the one calling the shots once a mission was handed down from Persia to WAS. Abyssinian was only field leader; the man still had to take orders from the arrogant clairvoyant, just like the rest of them…

A small smile tugged at the corners of Aya's lips at his teammate's confused expression. There was something adorable in the way Ken's mouth hung open slightly as his brows furrowed. Shaking his head to clear it of the errant thought, the redhead schooled his features into the perfect mask of ice as befitting Abyssinian of Weiss. "Crawford is our mission planner. It is his job to know the team's weaknesses, to cover all possible liabilities in the mission plans. I am the field leader. It is my job to understand the team's strengths, to know what I can depend if the mission falls through."

As Ken's mind processed the redhead's words, an impish grin replaced the confused look on his face. "So you're saying it's Crawford's job to make everyone feel like shit, and it's yours to make us feel better?"

Aya wasn't sure if he wanted to shake the brunette in frustration or laugh at the irony of it all. He was supposed to be pushing Ken away, not have the man believing he was the nice one in WAS! "I don't give a damn about how you feel! All I care about is how your issues affects your work."

Ken was expecting this; Omi had warned him earlier about Aya's tendency to be callous and downright malicious to those who attempted to get too close. The hurtful words stung a little; but it wasn't as if they'd known each other long enough for the redhead to truly care about him anyway. Grin unwavering, the brunette shrugged, "Doesn't matter. You're there for me when I needed it; that's reason enough for me to try to be there for you too."

"You…" Aya was at a loss for words. He'd been a total callous bastard to Ken ever since the brunette walked through his door; but the man was still here, still thankful, still wanting to be there for him, as if they were more than assassins who happened to be assigned to the same team.

Ken smirked at the redhead's truncated answer. Aya was kind of cute when he was all flustered like that. He had a feeling it was a rather rare sight. Knowing to quit while he was ahead, the brunette quickly made his way to the door. "I'll leave you with your food then; I hope you like curry."

Without waiting for a reply, the brunette stepped out of Aya's room and closed the door behind him. He knew he would probably feel the full force of his field leader's icy ire later; but he couldn't bring himself to care. The chance to get to know the reserved redhead better was well worth it.

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Aya glared at his boxed dinner, as if trying to make it vanish by the force of his will; but it remained as unaffected by his death glare as the brunette who had brought it. To add insult to injury, the offending item was emitting a delectable aroma that made his stomach growl in delight. He knew he could always throw it out and make himself something else; but the pragmatist in him reasoned the satisfaction of rejecting Ken's offer wasn't worth the work.

Swallowing his pride, the redhead took a seat and opened the bento. There's curry rice, a wakame salad, as well as an assortment of maki-sushi. Ken had really gone all out when preparing his dinner. Though Aya was a devout loner, he couldn't help but feel a little grateful for the brunette's efforts. If looks were anything to go by, this would be the first decent meal he'd had in days.

The redhead sighed in bliss as he tried a spoonful of curry rice. The sauce was rich and thick with just a tinge of spiciness, exactly the way he liked it. He never thought Ken would be such a great cook; the brunette certainly didn't look the type with his muscular built and golden skin. But then, looks could be deceiving; and he had a feeling there was a lot more to Ken than what met the eye.

Aya gave himself a mental shake to redirect his thoughts. Ken had made him food; and he had decided to eat it. That was the end of the matter; it didn't change the fact that he wanted nothing to do with his new teammate. There was no reason to ponder the complex mysteries of the brunette; it wasn't as if he cared to find out. With a scowl, he forced his mind to focus on the simple motions of eating. /Fill spoon with food… put food in mouth… chew… swallow… repeat…there is nothing else to think about…/

A sudden sharp chirp from his cell phone interrupted the redhead's meal. The sound was soon followed by an alarm resounding through the Weiss house. It was the signal for an emergency WAS meeting/mission. Such emergencies were hardly an uncommon occurrence. Persia was a kind man at heart and often sent in Kritiker's non-lethal units on "humane" hunts. When such operation failed, WAS would be sent in as reinforcements to take out the target.

Aya sighed as a pounding on his door added to the din. Omi and Ken were waiting for him outside. He supposed he should at least give the brunette credit for not crashing right in, but he wasn't in a particularly "generous" mood today. Casting a last, almost wistful look at his half-eaten dinner, the redhead moved to get ready for battle. A quick change of clothes later, Aya opened his door to face his teammates. There was no rest for the wicked; and tonight, Abyssinian of WAS would kill again.

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