Breakdown

Chapter 16: Ice Queen

It was a few minutes before Yohji made his way to Ran's bedroom, and that short amount of time felt like an eternity to the redhead, or an absolute hell. Within those few minutes, Ran had had to force himself not to slam his door closed, lock it, and set up a barricade so Yohji could not get in.

Ran could not believe that he had actually invited the playboy into his bedroom. No one was allowed in his room. It was the only private space he had in the apartment and he kept it off limits to everyone, especially playboys—not that telling all of Weiss to keep the hell out had stopped Yohji last night. Ran knew that he hadn't walked himself to bed last night. He'd been completely down for the count, so it had to have been the blond that had taken off his shoes and socks and tucked him in. It was a good thing for Yohji that he hadn't removed any more articles of his clothing, but at the same time Ran wished he had because he didn't appreciate being reminded of what happened the night before by the smell of his clothing.

Ran remembered everything about last night, everything. And that meant that he recalled chumming it up and having a few drinks with Schwartz's leader in a sleazy bar, getting driven around and dumped on the side of the road by Mastermind, another enemy, and then being picked up and carried bridal style by Yohji Kudou to the car. Ran couldn't remember much more after that because he'd fallen asleep, but he knew that he hadn't dreamt any of it, and that's what scared him. Ran didn't think that anyone else could have made so many mistakes in just one night, even Yohji.

Yohji….God, Ran didn't know what he was going to do about him, or what he was going to say. He should have stuck with his original plan of just gutting the blond where he stood, but Ran had decided to listen to the little voice on his right shoulder that told him to talk things out instead.

When the playboy finally made his way to the bedroom and rapped lightly on the doorframe, Ran wondered if it was too late to listen to the voice on his left shoulder. How could he talk things out when he didn't know what to say? Violence and glaring had always served him better in the past.

"Hey Aya," Yohji said as he entered the room and took the liberty of closing the door behind him. Ran heard the click of the lock and suddenly felt like a caged animal. He moved from the bed and paced towards the window, needing to put more distance between himself and Yohji. He had a sinking feeling in his gut and to stop his hands from shaking, he kept a strangle hold on the hilt of his kattana. He couldn't explain where his calm had suddenly gone, but it was eons away.

"Aya?" Yohji took a step towards him, but was wise enough to stop there since Ran was still armed, "You okay?" he asked tentatively, obviously worried about provoking the man.

Ran nodded once. "Fine, Kudou." Yohji didn't look like he was ready to believe him, but he also wasn't about to press the issue until Ran had put away his sword.

"Am I gonna get stabbed?" the blond said very seriously.

Ran stared at him and then glanced down at the kattana in his hand. "Maybe…maybe not. I haven't decided."

Yohji nodded. "Think you could warn me before you do? I kinda wanna say goodbye to Ken and the Chibi...and maybe flirt with Manx one last time."

Ran scowled and looked out the window, turning his back on the blond. "I'm not going to kill you, Kudou, even if I'd like to."

"Aw, C'mon Aya," Yohji whined, "I thought I redeemed myself last night by helping you."

Ran flinched. "Last night didn't happen, Kudou."

"Oh no," Yohji shook his head, "We're not doing this, Aya. You can't just brush off what happened last night. And I've already told Ken about it, so your secret's out."

Ran's eyes widened and he whipped around, looking shocked and livid all at once. "You what!?" he demanded, sounding slightly panicked. For some reason he had been stupid enough to think that Yohji would have kept the incident to himself until they'd talked about it. But he'd been wrong and suddenly Ran's left shoulder was winning the debate. He wanted to slice Yohji from navel to nose again.

Yohji seemed to catch on to the redhead's thought process and he stepped backwards slowly, holding his hands up. "Whoa, Aya. Don't get crazy here. Ken won't tell anybody…and the Chibi doesn't know yet so you won't get those concerned puppy dog eyes from him." He smiled nervously. "You were just drunk, it happens to the best of us. It's no big deal."

Ran swung his sword out in front of him and narrowed his eyes, daring Yohji not to run for his life. It was the look he gave his victims before he 'denied them their tomorrows.' The blond recognized it and gulped.

"Aya! Stabbing me is no way to show your appreciation for my help last night!"

Ran's lip curled in disdain. "Who says I appreciate it?"

Yohji gawped. "Well you should! You couldn't even stand and I had to carry you to the car, which you asked me to do, I might add. What the hell were you going to do? Sit around in that park, waiting to freeze to death or for some lowlife to molest you?"

"I wouldn't have frozen to death, Kudou," Ran growled. "And they only let me off there because they knew you were coming."

"What? Who did?" Yohji asked, completely and totally confused. Only then did Ran realize what he'd just revealed to him, and in his shock, the kattana slipped from his grip and landed on the floor with a clunk that sounded deafening to him.

Ran swallowed loudly and closed his eyes, trying to wish the moment away unsuccessfully. When that didn't work, he simply turned his back on Yohji and refused to speak. If he didn't acknowledge his slip with words, then maybe it would magically disappear. It was a shame that it wouldn't work with the blond himself.

"Who were you with yesterday?" Yohji asked calmly, inching closer to Ran since his sword was no longer in his hand. Ran stiffened, but gave no answer so Yohji posed another question, one that caught the redhead completely off guard. "Since when do you wear cologne, Aya?"

"What?" Ran turned around and noted that Yohji had come far too close for his liking. They were only a pace apart and he scowled at him, silently telling him to back up, not that Yohji would listen.

"Cologne," Yohji said again, "I smelled it on you last night. Pretty strong stuff. Didn't think you were the type to wear it."

"I don't wear it," Ran snapped, and after a few seconds of running the words over in his mind, he realized his mistake and tried to save himself. "…usually," he said, in a feeble attempt to cover.

"Really?" Yohji sounded surprised. "You keep the bottle in your pocket in case of an emergency? Because you weren't wearing anything in the shop, Aya."

Ran was caught, and he didn't quite know where to go from there. What made matters worse was that he was still wearing his sleep rumpled clothes from the night before and although the smell of what he figured had been Crawford's cologne, had dissipated, he still wanted to rip his shirt off and throw it across the room for betraying him.

He looked away from Yohji, having nothing to say. And Yohji sighed when he failed to get a response, yet again. "You know when you said, 'we need to talk,' Aya, I kind of expected you to do more of the talking."

Ran cursed under his breath and glared at him. "I only wanted to tell you to keep your mouth shut, Kudou," he said bitterly, "But you already failed to do so, so I have nothing to say to you."

"No," Yohji scowled, "I found you on the side of the road, sloshed and smelling like cologne that I know you don't wear, so I think you have plenty to say to me. You just won't."

Ran growled. "It's none of your business, Kudou. I never ask what you do when you go out."

"I also never need to be rescued, Fujimiya," Yohji countered, temper rising.

The comment pissed Ran off to no end. "I didn't need to be rescued. I didn't call for help, did I?" he snarled, taking a step towards Yohji to close the distance between them.

"No," Yohji shook his head, narrowing his eyes down at the shorter redhead. "You were lucky enough to have me driving around like a lunatic looking for you. You should have checked in. We were worried."

Even though Yohji had a point, it wasn't like the blond ever took his own advice, so Ran dismissed the statement. "You aren't my parents. I shouldn't have to tell you where I'm going."

"Parents or not, we're still your friends and teammates Aya. You can't just stomp out of the shop and disappear for hours and expect us not to wonder where you are or how you're doing."

"Don't be a fucking hypocrite, Yohji," Ran said angrily, "You never check in. All you ever say is that you're going out or that you have a hot date. That isn't much go by if we ever have to track you down." He counted off the list of points on his fingers. "We don't know the names of the women you go out with. We don't know where you take them. And we don't know what clubs you frequent. All we know is that it's somewhere where everyone is dressed like a whore and I'm sure that doesn't narrow down the possibilities. And then of course you have to fuck every short skirt that throws herself at you because you're that much of a slu-"

Ran tasted copper in his mouth and it was a few seconds before he even realized that he was on his ass on the floor, staring up at Yohji and still balled fist. The blond had actually punched him, and quite hard, Ran noted. He wiped away a trail of blood from his lip with the back of his hand and glared up at the playboy.

"What do you think you're doing, Kudou?" he asked venomously.

Yohji narrowed his eyes. "Don't you fucking call me that again, Aya," he growled. "You act like you know what you're talking about, but you don't. And you know what? You're the only one who doesn't know where I go every night. You're the only one who doesn't know the names of the ladies I go out with. I tell those who I know will give a damn. That means Ken and Omi. I used to try to tell you, but you're so fucking hostile that I don't bother anymore. And just for the record? I don't sleep with every short skirt, you ignorant bastard."

Ran lowered his gaze and growled softly, feeling a little bad about judging Yohji as he had done, but he wasn't about to apologize. It wasn't in him to do so.

Yohji sighed heavily. "I just don't get you, Aya. Would it really kill you to be human sometimes? No one put you on a damn pedestal, so stop acting like you're better than everyone. Show a little emotion." He dropped down to his knees and tilted his face to look Ran in the eye. "Last night was great, Aya. I actually got to see part of the real you. If I had known that you needed to be drunk for that to happen, then I would have tired to get you wasted a long time ago. You're not invincible and you're not a block of ice. We all need to depend on someone now and again, and it isn't a bad thing."

Ran looked away and swallowed the lump in his throat. Yohji was doing it again, using that soft voice and staring at him with that strange look in his eye that he'd noticed in the Koneko. It unnerved him to think that he was actually felt comforted by it, and he wanted it to stop.

"Shut up, Kudou," he said quietly.

Yohji smiled sadly and shook his head. "You're never going to open up to me, are you Aya? But that's fine, I'm gonna keep trying. And you don't have to tell me what happened last night if you don't want to. I'd rather not be gutted over it. But if you ever wake up and realize that you're human after all, I'm here to talk. Okay?" He didn't let Ran respond but got up and walked to the door. "Remember to shower and change before your afternoon shift. I'm not a fan of your cologne," he said knowingly as he opened the door and left.

Ran waited until the door closed behind Yohji before ripping off his shirt and throwing it across the room as he had wanted to do earlier. He lay down on his floor and stared at the ceiling, wondering if things had gone badly or if things had gone well. He supposed that in the end, it was the latter. Yohji hadn't really pushed for answers. He'd done most of the talking. And apart from the punch, Ran couldn't really find anything to be mad at the blond for. Yohji was actually quite an understanding and easy person to talk to, and it seemed like he genuinely cared about Ran as a person. It felt nice, and that was a startling revelation.

Could Ran actually consider Yohji Kudou a friend? Maybe in time. He'd have to toy with the idea a little more first. But Ran figured that in the meantime, he would try to be a little more civil to the blond, at least. Yohji had helped him out after all. And who knew? Maybe he would even get an apology out of him.

Maybe.