Disclaimer; I don't own Weiss Kreuz or any of the characters, but that doesn't mean I don't get to muck with them nyuk, nyuk, nyuk…

Warnings: Language, violence, angst.

The rough divide

Chapter 2

"Is it that one?"

"No, it isn't."

Silence.

"What about that one then?"

"Look, don't you think I would have looked at that one if it was that one?"

"Good point."

The clacking of keys.

"Well that one then?"

"YOJI!"

The sound of a chair screaming back against the floor and the stamping of a foot were the telling signs that Omi had finally lost his temper. There were some hurried steps and then a door slammed. I surmised, as I listened to the proceedings from my own room, that Yoji had been thrown out by an irate Omi.

-Good, - I thought wearily as I pulled on my trainers, -he'll work faster without that baka hanging over his shoulders all the time.-

There was a slightly exasperated sigh, the sound of material scraping on a wall and then a thump. I could almost see Yoji leaning against Omi's door with that stupid pout on his face. Trying not to sigh again I slowly tied my laces, focusing on the white strands as they looped and knotted. If I focused on them, then I wouldn't have to think about anything else. I wouldn't have to believe that I was really in the nightmare that had become my life; that had become all our lives…

A rustle of fabric took my eyes to the door. I waited for the knock. It took a little longer than usual, but soon enough the slight tapping of a gloved hand sounded on my door.

"Ken?" Yoji's voice was strangely hesitant, "can I come in?"

To tell you the truth I wasn't really in the mood for Yoji right now. Usually when I'm upset, the lanky assassin is the first person I turn to. He's like, well, a big brother I guess. But not right now. Right now, I wanted to be alone.

"Not just now," I told him, trying my best not to sound as defeated as I felt.

"Why?" Yoji's voice was genuinely surprised before he slipped back into character, "you naked or something?"

"No," I sighed, "just don't want company."

"Oh," the tone of that one syllable spoke the volumes that Yoji didn't as he went silent.

I moved on to the other trainer, tying the laces even slower. I rubbed at my chest absently, trying to help myself ignore the ache there. My hands seemed to be freezing up. In fact, my whole body seemed to freezing up. I just didn't want to have to live in this any more, I didn't want to have to think about what was waiting for all of us tonight, or tomorrow, or the next day…especially without him…

"Don't cut them like that Aya, they'll all die!" I told him as I stole the scissors from his hands.

I was rewarded with a glare and a frown. Oh man, this guy was too much.

"Look, you have to cut the stems at an angle so that the flowers suck up more of the food in the water," I explained as I snipped the stems carefully, " or they only last half as long."

At least that softened his frown, but the glare remained. He took the scissors back roughly as I handed them to him, but give him his due he did follow my example. I just shook my head and continued to sweep the floor.

It was always slow on a Wednesday afternoon. The fanclub was at school, everyone was doing their food shopping in town, and no one wanted flowers for some reason that I'd never really figured out. So I was sweeping the floor during the lull, generally tidying while Aya stocked up the baskets in the shop. I know that I always get stuck with cleaning, even when Omi is kind enough to offer his help (as if I could ever take him up on it when he gives me those big blue eyes!), but I don't really mind. It gives me a good opportunity just to watch him handle the flowers.

I love to watch Aya prepare flowers.

Okay that sounds strange I know, but it really is fascinating to watch. He's so delicate for a trained killer. Yet I suppose his weapon of choice allows him to be delicate while being strong. He always follows the same pattern as well when he strips them, yet I guess training with a sword would make you work in routines. He always picks flowers from the bunch without ever breaking them, pulling them from the entangled leaves with ease. Then he strips them of their leaves without ever breaking the stems, his long thin fingers wrapping around the stalk while he tears at the green strips. Then he cuts the ends (properly now) before slipping them into the waiting water. Then he does it again, and again, always the same, each just as much a pleasure as the last to watch. Usually he doesn't notice, or he just ignores me as I flick glances up from the floor while I clean, so I was surprised this time when he spoke.

"What are you looking at?" his tone sounded genuinely intrigued, not angry or annoyed as it usually was.

"Uh, what?" I started; and being the clutz that I am accidentally pushing my broom into a basket of iris's spilling the water onto the floor, "k'so."

"You're watching me," he said bluntly, "why?"

"You? I, err…I was just making sure you cut the stems right that's all," I lied quickly, not really sure what his reaction would be to –Well you see I think you look delicate and soft when your preparing flowers…-

I wasn't really convinced that it would go down well.

"Hn," he grunted in reply, before adding, "you don't have too look out for me."

That was a shock. Was Aya…talking to me? I wasn't quite sure how to respond, yet I wasn't going to let this chance pass me by. Aya never talked to anyone more than he had to.

"You can't think like that anymore," I berated him lightly, "you're part of a team now."

He seemed to ignore this, and for a moment I thought that his out of character reply had been just a one off. But just as I was about to go and get a mop to clean up the water he stopped pruning and put down his scissors. He stood there like that for a little while, almost as if he were contemplating my statement, even though his face was utterly blank and unreadable.

"I don't want you to risk yourself for me," he said finally, not looking at me as he said it.

"What do you mean?" I asked, curious as to what brought this on in our usually stoic redhead.

"On missions," he said matter-of-factly, picking up the scissors once more to resume stripping the flowers, "I don't want you to risk yourself for me."

"Aya," I said, unable to keep the frown from my face as I turned to him, hating myself for being forced to speak in clichés, "there's no I in team you know. A team is a whole, they act as one. If one part is lost then the team is lost, that's just the way it works."

"You three were a team before," Aya argued, flicking his hair back behind his ear as he worked, "you could fall back on that."

"No, Aya, look," I sighed exasperatedly, "you're part of the team now, and I refuse to accept that you still don't think of yourself as part of it after all this time."

"We all have our separate duties," he stated, "each is individual."

"Yes, but without one of those parts everything else crumbles," I argued, still amazed at the way we were talking, and the fact that Aya was talking at all, "it's like each of us is a support; without one everything tumbles down."

He frowned at this. Then he looked up at me and pinned me with those dazzling amethyst eyes. Yet he didn't say anything, just looked at me, almost as if he was trying to look into me to try and obtain the answer he was looking for. It was while before I could speak again.

"Is this about," I wavered as his gaze became more intense, "last week..?"

"Yes…," Aya said clearly, "…don't do it again."

"You would have been shot if I hadn't pushed you…" I started.

"And instead you got yourself shot," his tone was not as cold as usual.

"You could have died!" I said in exasperation.

"Don't make me repeat myself," he said turning back to his flowers once more.

"The least you could say is thanks," I grumbled, continuing in my sweeping.

Then there was silence once more and I had to sweep the floor. Yet I didn't even get the comfort of watching Aya as I cleaned, not now that he was in prick-mode. I turned my back on him, staring out of the window as if there was something fascinating there. I heard him lifting the now finished basket and place it in the rack with the others before he retreated towards the back room. I heard him stop just before he got there however, and then his soft footsteps as he approached me. I tried not to jump as he tapped my shoulder, and when I turned I found him not a foot away from me.

"Ahh! Don't sneak up on me like that," I scowled, trying to calm my heart down, yet I wasn't sure if it was from the shock or from the fact that Aya was standing so close to me…but why would that mean anything anyway..?

"…I just wanted to say…" he hesitated and looked awkward, well as awkward as a man with an emotionless face can look, "…thank you."

I was stunned into silence as he retrieved my limp hand from my side and waggled it in his own. It took me a while to notice that in reality he wasn't waggling it, he was shaking it. I tried not to let my jaw hit the floor. I just stood there like a clutz and let him shake my hand, gaping at him despite my efforts not to.

"Anytime," I finally choked out as he let my hand go.

He just nodded, the faintest of blushes colouring his cheeks. Then he was gone in a flash of red and orange into the back room, leaving me with my hand still held out and a stupid grin on my face. How weird had that been, yet it was…relieving…to know finally that he did have emotions. That he did feel. Yet even more relieving that he did feel, did appreciate us, appreciate me…

"Are you ever coming out of there?" Yoji's bored voice brought me back to the present and I started, not even noticing how lost I had become in my thoughts.

"In a minute," I called back, standing to grab my jacket and slip it on.

There was no way that I could live with myself if I let Aya…Ran, get hurt. Not now especially, not after everything that had happened. He trusted me, and I wasn't going to let him down just because he blew up at Omi. God, he'd done worse before, he'd left us before, and we'd always taken him back. Now that his sister was dead, now that the place was crawling with Estset looking for us, now that he was truly lost…I had to go look for him. Grabbing my bugnuks from the dresser I slipped them on, testing the release on the claws to make sure I had fixed them properly. They had been damaged in the last fight; some damn Estset telekinetic had blown me into a wall and fucked the mechanism. But it was working okay now, and it was working well enough to let me go out and look for Ran.

"Yoji, I'm coming out," I warned him before I opened the door.

I heard him shift from the door and then pulled it open. He looked up at me and shook his head slightly, yet it was more in resignation than surprise.

"You can't go out there," he told me as he stood, "we need to find him first, or at least get a lead before we try to get him back."

"Before we get him back," I corrected him coldly, "and if we wait too long you know what will happen."

"It's not worth the risk of getting yourself killed…" Yoji started as he stood.

"Never stopped me before did it," I told him, "and so it wont stop me now."

"Omi will find him if you just wait…"

"I'm not going to JUST WAIT!" I shouted punching the wall in frustration, "I'm going out to find him before we have to bring him home in bags! So get out of my way!"

"No Ken, listen to me," Yoji stayed calm, but that only made me madder, "if you're going out then I'll come with you okay?"

"Then who'll protect Omi?" I argued, you remember what happened last time!"

"I heard that!" came Omi's voice from behind his closed door, then it opened to reveal a tired looking Omi holding his dangerous looking crossbow, "if you want to go look for him then go Ken-kun, but just be careful okay? And take Yoji with you, I'll be okay…"

"You will not be okay Omi," I snapped back, calming myself as he suddenly looked even more tired at my outburst, "look, I'm sorry okay? But I need to know that you guys are safe, I can't think right now, and if something happened when I wasn't here…I'd never be able…"

Silence fell then. I was fed up of these silences that seemed to be falling on us more and more often these days. So with an apologetic look at Omi and a stubborn look at Yoji I walked down the stairs and out into the night. They didn't try and stop me and I was glad…yet I almost wished that they would on a way; almost they same way I wished that Ran was back home with us, the same way I wished that his sister was still alive and we could all just be happy.

-Focus ken, focus, - I chanted to myself, -you need to just find him first before you go trying to change anything else. So, if I were a depressed, revengeful, redhead assassin where would I hide myself..?-

I tried to wonder where Ran would have gone as I straddled my motorbike and put on the helmet hanging from the handle bars. It rumbled and purred under me as I revved the engine, and I decided that, vainly…that I really had no idea at all where he would go. I didn't really know that much about him at all. I felt my shoulders slump a little at the realisation. I missed the flowers, I missed the Koneko. I wished nothing more than to be back there now on a sunny day just watering the plants. I wanted to hear Omi humming happily to himself as he bundled up the flowers into bunches, hear Yoji thumping down the stairs his usual hour late, hear Aya sigh and grumble at Yoji before helping me water the plants…

…But the Koneko was nothing but ashes now…along with my wishes. I felt a stray tear rolling down my cheek and blinked. I had to focus, had to just go and look for him. I wouldn't stay out too long, I wouldn't want Omi to get to worried and send Yoji out to look for me. I just didn't want him to be alone after what happened last time.

By the time I figured out that it was a trap it had been too late. I found Ran and Yoji and pulled them to the car.

"What are you doing!?" Ran shouted at me accusingly, and I had only glared back, "we almost had them!"

"It's a trap," I had shouted back, "I can't get in touch with Omi!"

"What do you mean?" Yoji asked, eyes widening slightly in alarm.

"I mean that I was talking to him and the signal just went dead," I said hurriedly starting up the engine, "and didn't you notice how easy a fight it was. They were a diversion. They know where our base is, I just know it, so get in!"

We were on a mission while Omi had stayed back to direct us from afar. He had needed to be able to be at his computer at all times to co-ordinate the attack on an Estset faction base. We had never even thought that it might be a lure, it didn't show any signs of it…

…But when we had arrived back at our safe house five minutes later, with me driving like a maniac up over the pavement and everything, the place was a raging inferno.

Now, I have a thing with fire, a bit of a phobia I guess, after what happened at the warehouse…so I guess I kind of froze up a little at the sight. The thought that Omi might be in there, like Kase had been…Yoji had been the one to run in, brave the flames fearlessly screaming out Omi's name in hope for a response. I had stood dumbly outside with my insides twisting up and tears stinging my eyes.

-Oh god please, - I thought, -please don't die Omi, please Omi be okay.-

Those were some of the longest seconds of my life, futilely searching the flames and calling for Yoji and Omi as Ran stood impassively at my side. I hated his calm, hated it because I couldn't tell whether it was from self control or simply from the fact that he didn't care. I hated him!

"Dammit, come on!"

I had just had enough, was just about to damn my fear and run in myself when suddenly Yoji appeared through the fire. Omi was slung limply over his shoulder and he fell as Yoji dropped to the pavement in fits of coughing. I ran to them, helping Yoji up with one hand while checking Omi with the other. His t-shirt was half burned away and revealed an ugly burn along his right side. I winced at the sight but quickly checked his breathing…and found that he wasn't.

"Dammit!" I yelled over the roar of the flames as I quickly set about performing CPR.

I pumped his chest hurriedly, trying to keep my rhythm steady as the body under my hands remained unresponsive.

"Oh god…" Yoji choked out as he set bleary eyes on me, "…is he okay?"

"He's not breathing!" I said before lowering my mouth once again to Omi's, flinching at the taste of smoke and blood, "come on Omi breathe damn you!"

I continued to pump at his chest, tears rolling freely down my face as the smoke from the nearby fire got in my eyes, and also because Omi wasn't waking up. After another few tries I really began to panic.

"Ken," I felt a hand on my shoulder, Ran's voice calm but slightly strained.

I shrugged it off and bent down again to breathe life giving air into my friend, my brother, my family…

"Ken," he said again, "we need to go. It's too late…"

"Don't you fucking say it Aya!" I spat as I returned to pumping Omi's chest once more, "come on Omi I know you're not dead, you're NOT DEAD!"

Nothing. I heard Yoji crying softly to my right as he held a bloody wound on his right arm. I heard Aya's silence. I heard the faint wail of sirens. I didn't hear a thing from Omi.

"Wake up," I slapped him hard as I choked back a sob, "wake the fuck up Omi! Damn you, wake UP!"

And then there was a cough, choking breath, and then blue eyes fluttered open. I thought I would die from the relief that flooded through me. He was okay, he was alive and we were all going to be okay…

Yeah.

Right.

I absently revved the engine and felt my bugnuks release as I gripped the handle bars. I opted for going the way I had seen Ran go last, and then sped off to find him.

AN: I just want to say thanks for reviewing! If you hadn't I might not have continued this fic. I wanted to just leave it as a one off, but I guess that is kind of cruel considering it was a cliff hanger.

Umm, not sure what this chapter is supposed to do except expand the characters a little. There will be more action and angst up next chapter though! ^-^