Glad to see that this story's being clicked on….though a few more reviews would be nice so I know who's actually taking the time to read it. Thanks to the few who bothered.
Here's the set-up for Ran.
Breakdown
Chapter 2: Ran
Yohji was late for his shift, and although it did not surprise Ran, it still irritated him to no end. The blond playboy was never on time, even for a shift in the afternoon, so it was almost unheard of for him to rear his golden head for a morning shift.
Ran liked the quiet of the mornings and preferred to be alone in the Koneko when the shop was relatively deserted because he could have some peace, but that still did not mean that he approved of the playboy shirking his duties. If the rest of the team could rise for the morning shifts, even after a hard mission, then Yohji could damn well get his ass out of bed and into the shop after a night of binge drinking and whoring himself. The blond brought the bad wake-ups on himself. Ran felt absolutely no pity for him. Yohji was irresponsible by choice.
Ran was carefully removing the thorns of a rose when he heard the zombie-like moan of one Yohji Kudou heading his way from the room adjoining the flower shop. A mess of blond hair preceded the hunched over body as Yohji shuffled jerkily into the Koneko, left hand holding a sloshing cup of coffee. Ran knew that he would need the entire pot to get through the morning.
Ran would need a vat of sedatives.
The redhead sighed heavily, mentally preparing himself for 'Morning of the Living Dead' part 286.
"Uhn….what time is it?" Yohji groaned, hobbling over to Ran's table and taking a stool. He set his coffee down and draped himself over the tabletop without clearing a space first.
Ran growled at him. "You're crushing the roses, Kudou."
Yohji yawned and sniffled, nestling his face into his folded arms, getting comfortable. "That's ok…I don't think they mind."
"I mind Kudou," Ran said darkly through gritted teeth, resisting the urge to club his teammate with a nearby flowerpot. "Get up."
Yohji grunted and turned his head to face the other direction, pointedly ignoring the redhead. Ran promptly kicked the stool out from under him and watched his arms flail as he fell to the ground, dragging down some of the crushed roses with him.
Yohji stared up at Ran in complete surprise for a moment, rose petals and thorny stems hanging from his hair, before he realized what had happened and he got angry.
"The hell you think you're doing Aya?"
Ran went back to pruning. "Clean that mess up, Kudou. You know where the broom and dustpan are kept."
"Like hell I am!" Yohji stood up a little too quickly and teetered on his feet for a few seconds as he got over a quick dizzy spell. He grabbed his coffee mug off the table and patted down his pockets to make sure he still had his cigarettes and lighter. "I need a smoke."
Ran could have stopped the blond as he went out the front door, but he decided that as long as Yohji was outside and at least ten feet away from him, there was less chance of him being killed and therefore no need for Ran to explain to Krittiker why a member of their team had mysteriously been run through by a kattana. Yohji could also use the fresh air, even if most of it was being camouflaged by smoke.
Ran himself cleaned up the ruined roses and got back to work on his arrangements, Yohji came back inside fifteen minutes later with an empty cup of coffee and probably a half empty packet of cigarettes.
"Kudou, the shop won't sweep itself," Ran said, labeling a finished arrangement then setting it aside to start on another. "Get to work."
Yohji grumbled something Ran didn't quite hear as he left the Koneko for a second time. Ran later deduced that it must have been along the lines of 'coffee' since Yohji returned a few minutes later with another cup of the steaming black liquid.
"Kudou."
Yohji rolled his eyes behind the shades he always wore tilted off his nose. "What, Aya?"
"Sweep."
"Yeah yeah," the blond waved a hand dismissively. "I'll get around to it later." Which Ran knew translated to 'I will conveniently forget what it is that you asked me to do in precisely 2.3 seconds so you might as well do it yourself.'
Ran growled as he watched Yohji move towards the cash and sit on the counter. The blond surveyed the shop as he drank his second cup of coffee, looking only slightly more awake than he did before.
"You aren't doing anything Kudou. You can at least help me with this list of arrangements. They need to be done by tomorrow afternoon."
"They'll get done faster if I'm not involved Aya. You know you're gonna rearrange my arrangements anyway. You're too picky."
It was true. Ran was an insatiable perfectionist but that was beside the point.
"Kudou."
"Why won't you call me Yohji?" the blond asked idly, "I call you Aya."
Ran really didn't have an answer for him. Kudou just sounded better rolling of his tongue, especially since he was perpetually annoyed with the blond.
He shrugged. "I don't know."
"You don't know."
"No."
"Well how would you like it if I called you Fujimiya?"
"I'd like it better."
Yohji snorted and gulped some coffee, realizing too late that it was still too hot for that. He grimaced and took a moment to compose himself, then fixed his eyes on Ran once more.
"Snow White then."
Ran stiffened. "No."
"Yes," Yohji affirmed, "Think about it. You act all superior to everyone. Ie. Royalty. A princess. You're cold as ice, in other words, Snow. And you're so damned pale. White. Snow. Snow White."
The redhead dropped the flowers he was holding since he realized that he was crushing them in his fist and he turned his gaze to Yohji, glaring daggers.
"Don't you DARE call me that," he warned him in a dangerous whisper.
"Why?" Yohji carefully took a sip of coffee this time. "Would you prefer Briar Rose? I think that was the other princess. And a rose is your flower. That could be fitting too."
Ran's eyes flashed. "I am NOT a princess, Kudou!" he yelled, pounding his fist onto the table, acting on his anger this time.
"You're right. You're more arrogant than that. I'd say you're closer to being an Ice Queen."
Ran was up from the table and stalking towards the blond in a flash, cursing himself for not having his kattana. He grabbed Yohji roughly by the collar, shaking him so that the blond spilled coffee on the both of them. Ran hissed at the heat but did nothing about it.
"Enough, Kudou."
"Yohji." The blond corrected, meeting his eye without issue.
The redhead flinched then, when their faces were so close. He caught something in Yohji's gaze that bothered him. It should have been fear but Ran saw horror in people's eyes all the time, on every mission. He knew what that looked like. It wasn't anger either. He knew what that was too. This was something else…something he couldn't quite place and it made him uncomfortable.
"Yohji," the playboy said again, putting a hand over Ran's and gently prying his fingers off of shirt.
Ran jerked his hand back as if he were being scalded and stumbled back a step. "What?" he asked in mild confusion.
"Yohji. Call me Yohji. I want to hear you say it."
The glare instantly returned. Ran did not like the soft voice Yohji was using and he especially didn't like the way he was being looked at. What was wrong with the playboy? He was supposed to be angry. Ran had essentially just assaulted him.
"No. I won't say it, Kudou."
Yohji sighed and put his coffee mug down again as he hopped off the counter. He reached out for Aya and the redhead grabbed his wrist.
"What are you doing?" he hissed.
The blond shook his head and pulled his hand back. Ran let go.
"You have coffee on your shirt, Aya. You should change before the stain sets in."
Ran looked down, remembering about the spill. "Oh." He nodded. "You—"
"I know. I'll watch the shop while you change and then I'll go."
Ran stared at Yohji, hesitating for only a second before he once again noticed that strange look in the blonde's eyes and he decided that he needed to get away from him very much, if only for five minutes.
He felt Yohji's eyes on him the whole time as he hurried out of the Koneko.