Youji couldn't sleep; he was worried about Aya. He didn't know why he was so worried. The small redhead could handle himself in a fight, but the storm outside was worsening and he didn't think Aya had a coat. After tossing and turning for a few hours he gave up and went downstairs. To his surprise Omi and Ken were also up. Omi was curled up against the brunette with a steaming cup of tea. Youji watched them with a smile for a moment; he had a feeling their relationship went deeper than just teammates and to see them like this warmed his heart. They understood each other completely and he envied them for that. Omi looked up as he came closer and smiled tiredly. "You couldn't sleep either, huh?" Youji shook his head and collapsed in a chair.

"The storm is getting worse." Ken said quietly. His arm was around Omi's shoulders and his hand was slowly caressing the teen's upper arm absently. So they'd noticed too. Youji's brow furrowed.

"Think we should go look for him?" He chewed on his lip thoughtfully.

"I do." Omi sighed. "But I worry that he might get back while we're gone."

"I'll go look then and you two can stay here." Youji stood. "Get some rest, Omi, you have school tomorrow." The teen shook his head.

"I can't sleep." Ken squeezed his shoulders before nodding to Youji.

"Go find him. I'll take care of Omi."

Aya stared at the blood on his hands then looked at the men lying dead on the ground. He hadn't meant to kill them, but the leader had let it slip that he worked for Misaki and Aya had snapped. It was wrong on so many levels and he couldn't stop shaking. What was happening to him? Was he going insane or just…losing his humanity? He took off at a run letting the rain wash the blood away. Something was horribly wrong with him and it wasn't going away no matter how fast he ran. That thought made him run even faster, dodging cars and pedestrians alike as he raced through the bowels of the city. He ignored the horns honking at him and the catcalls of prostitutes as he tried to escape his demons. He was brought to an abrupt halt as he crashed into a very solid chest. He looked up into Youji's concerned green eyes. His heart was pounding in his chest and he could hear his own desperate gasps for air. "Jesus kid, you ok?" Youji's deep voice washed over him, calming his raging mind slightly. "God, you're soaked." Youji pulled off his coat and wrapped it around Aya's shivering body. "Let's get you home." Aya shook his head. He didn't have a home. That had been lost a long time ago and it wasn't ever coming back. It had been stolen from him along with his life. Youji put an arm around him and guided him to a car with its engine still running. Aya let himself be bundled into the passenger seat and stared listlessly out the window as Youji drove. "You had us worried." The older man said quietly, stopping at a red light. Aya looked up at him.

"Why?"

"Well you took off without saying anything, then the storm started."

"Oh…sorry." He turned back to staring out the window. The light turned green and Youji slowly accelerated.

"Aya, I know we only just met, but you can talk to me. I know there's something bothering you."

"I don't want to talk about it." Aya replied softly. He shivered, drawing Youji's coat tighter around him. He could feel Youji's eyes on him. The older man really was worried about him. Aya glanced over at him; maybe he'd misjudged the blonde. There was no trace of the lust he'd seen earlier. "You came out looking for me didn't you?" He asked after a while.

"Yeah." Youji replied. They passed the alley where Aya had killed the three men. Police were everywhere. "What happened here?" Youji's brow furrowed. Aya sucked in his breath then let it out slowly.

"I did." He replied hesitantly. The older man looked at him in surprise. "They were hired by Misaki." Aya couldn't meet the blonde's jade eyes. He really hadn't meant to kill them. Something deep inside was telling him that it was wrong.

"You don't mess around do you?"

"No." Aya watched the lights of the city flash by. "I don't like it when people try to kill me." The blonde laughed.

"Who does?" Aya shrugged but said nothing. He wasn't much of a conversationalist and he really didn't like people in general. It was hard to trust them after everything he'd been through. He had discovered a long time ago that if you trusted someone it hurt a lot more when they finally betrayed you. Then he'd let his guard down with Shido and relearned that lesson the hard way. "You must have really pissed the Misakis off if they're sending so many guys after you." Aya shrugged.

"I want them dead as much as much as they want me."

"Dead?" Aya shrugged again. At this point the wasn't sure if they wanted him dead more than they wanted him in their possession. "May I ask why you want them dead so much."

"You can ask whatever you want." The swordsman replied evenly. "It doesn't mean I'm going to answer."

"That's fair." He could hear the smile in the older man's voice.

"They disgust me." Aya said after a few moments of silence, turning to look at Youji. "They prey on the weak, subjugating children for their own evil games." Anger burned in his chest as he sat up straighter in his seat. "You haven't seen even a tenth of what they've done or what they're capable of. They are the refuse of humanity, living only to hurt those who can't defend themselves and should be burned alive for their crimes." Youji pulled into his parking space behind the Koneko and after turning off the engine he sat, staring at Aya.

"So you do have emotions." He said softly. Aya blinked; of course he had emotions. "For a while there I started to think…well I don't really know what I thought. You just seemed closed off and I couldn't tell what you were thinking." Aya looked down at his lap. He didn't know how to respond. For so many years he had closed himself off to people then when he'd opened up to Shido he got burned. "Aya?" The swordsman raised his eyes slowly. Youji's brow was furrowed in concern. "Talk to me, I like to think I'm a good listener." Aya looked away again.

"I don't…" He trailed off as Ken and Omi came outside, huddled together under an umbrella. Youji looked up.

"They were worried too, you know." He said quietly.

"I'm fine." Aya unbuckled his seatbelt and got out of the car. Youji followed quickly.

"You found him!" Omi ran out from under the umbrella. "Are you ok, Aya?" The redhead nodded, not meeting his eyes.

"That was a stupid thing to do." Ken said quietly walking forward to keep the umbrella over Omi's head. Aya shrugged.

"You're soaked!" Omi exclaimed then grabbed his arm and started dragging him towards the house. "You're crazy going out at night with no coat."

"I'm fine." Aya shrugged off his arm then took Youji's coat off his shoulders and handed it back to the older man. A cold wind blew past making him shiver slightly. Omi noticed and huffed something Aya didn't catch before once again taking his arm. This time he got Aya all the way up to his room before the swordsman could pull free. Anger flared in his chest as the teen told him to take a warm shower and climb into bed before he caught a cold. He clenched his jaw and kept quiet until Omi left the room then grabbed some clothes and went into the bathroom. He peeled off his wet clothes then stared at himself in the mirror. What the hell did those men see when looking at him? All he saw was a scrawny, pale, child that was almost completely dead inside. His eyes were purple and coupled with his naturally red hair his looks had only served to ostracize him from others while growing up. He didn't look Japanese like the rest of his family, which for a long time had made him believe he was adopted. He wouldn't have cared if that were true, he loved his family and they had loved him…when they were alive. He shook his head to clear it then dried off his damp skin and hair. After putting on the clean clothes he wrung his wet ones out over the tub and put them in the hamper Ken had told him to use. He ignored taking a warm shower like Omi had told him to and went to his room where he crawled into bed. As he closed his eyes sleep took over him and the dreams began.

Omi and Ken were silent when Youji finished telling them about what had happened when he'd gone out to find Aya. After a few minutes Omi sighed. "I wish he'd trust us."

"We just met him Omi." Ken laughed.

"I know, but no one has ever not trusted us before."

"I don't think he trusts anyone." Youji said quietly. "More happened to him the night he killed his last team then he's said."

"Well that's a given." Ken snorted. "Manx only told us what she saw. He never told her anything." They all shared a sigh before Omi announced that he was going to bed. Ken agreed that it was definitely time and the three of them trooped upstairs to their respective bedrooms. Youji went to sleep imagining what could have happened to Aya that fateful night; none of it was good.

Aya sat cross legged on his floor meditating when the others started waking up and getting ready for the day. He had been up for a couple hours after having a night fraught with nightmares. The sleep, needless to say, had not been good and he felt as tired as he would've if he'd gotten no sleep at all, hence the meditation. It calmed his mind and helped cement his mask of neutrality in place. He didn't want to face them without being in control again. He reflected on his pain then boxed it up and buried it deep within his mind along with the rest of his emotions. Never again would he let them control his actions like they had the night before. He deeply regretted letting them see the weakness in him, it only added to their first impressions of him as a fragile, skinny looking kid; although that could just be him projecting his own self image on what he thought they thought of him, but it was too confusing to think about so he stopped and told himself that he didn't care what they thought of him, which wasn't true. He did care and it pissed him off. A lot of things had been pissing him off lately; like the fact that Youji had gone out looking for him. He didn't know why it pissed him off so much, but it did; as did the fact that Omi and Ken were waiting up to make sure he was ok. That was always something Shido had done when Aya had gone off on missions alone or just snuck out late at night to get some air. He couldn't trust them. He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. It was as simple as that; he could not trust these people, not even Manx. They would betray him just as Shido had and when they did; he would kill them without a thought. He opened his eyes and stood; there was work to be done.

Omi looked up as Aya entered the kitchen, his smile was met with cold indifference. "Are you hungry? I just finished making breakfast." He watched Aya take a seat next to Youji, his smile fading. There was something different about the silent redhead that morning. Something that hadn't been there the previous day. He couldn't put his finger on it looking at the calm, neutral expression Aya wore so he shrugged it off and set about serving the meal to his now three housemates. For a while they ate in silence then Ken brought up the laptop again.

"So how did you get it?" The brunette asked.

"Stole it." Aya replied, surprising everyone.

"How did you manage that?" Ken's brow furrowed. "They must have had it guarded."

"I infiltrated one of their events with the leader of my old team." Aya responded mechanically. Omi wrinkled his nose.

"You're braver then I am."

"Bravery had nothing to do with it." Aya's cold amethyst eyes met his. "The laptop holds information critical to the mission. I did what I had to do." Omi suppressed a shudder trying not to imagine what the older man might have had to do to get it. "This Saturday they're holding another event; that would be the best night to go in." He stood, cleaning up his dishes and left the room. Ken stared after him with barely suppressed rage.

"Who the hell does he think he is?" He growled.

"Calm down, Ken." Youji shook his head. "Just think about where he had to go to get that laptop."

"I'm trying not to." Omi said quietly standing. Ken helped him clean up breakfast then waited as he gathered his things for school.