Weiss Kreuz Fan Fiction ❯ A Fine Line -WK ❯ Rub-a-Dub-Dub ( Chapter 9 )

Author's notes and warnings: Gah! I know it's been a while, please blame FF.net, Xellas and then Krysana for the delay. ^__^ FF.net because they deleted some stories, making me blue *sniffles* and Xellas for getting me started on the Remus/Sirius craze from the Harry Potter fandom. I am ashamed to say that I am currently obsessed with Remus J. Lupin, resident HP werewolf. *growls low* What a babe! And last but not lease, Krysana for starting me on the Prince of Tennis Fandom. Isn't Tezuka and Fuji to die for? ^^; I know…have I no shame?

*ahem* Sorry, where was I? Oh yeah…. Hello and welcome back! ^_^ How have you been…? ^^;;

Lots of thanks and hugs and cyber Pocky to all my reviewers without whom the story would not be where it is today. You are the best, no da. (((HUG)))

This chapter takes place after the FY chapter but you don't have to read that one if you don't want to...it does have Ran/Ken in it though plus some Youji/Omi. Not crucial that you do however. Please see the day tag for time lapse.

Special thanks to Hitari-chan for betaing the chapter and Xellas for being the bestest friend a girl can have. ^_^

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A Fine Line - Chapter 9: Rub-a-Dub-Dub…

By Moonraven

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(Day six - morning)

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"Oh, for Pete's sake, are they still at it?" Ken asked as his sleepy eyes focused on two men glaring at each other across the room.

Tryffin sat amidst the hostility, munching nonchalantly on an apple. When he heard Ken, he shifted his gaze from Ceilen and Ran to the bedridden brunette then grinned toothily. Ken blinked at the sight of fangs. What the…?

"It's not easy battling for the alpha male status. Looks like it's going to take days." Tryffin unfolded himself from his chair and came to sit next to Ken on the side of the bed.

Ken groaned and covered his eyes with the back of one hand. "Who's winning?"

"Are ya nuts?" Tryffin asked as he handed Ken a glass of water. "If I have to listen and keep track everytime they're at it, I would have jumped overboard hours ago."

Ken watched Tryffin shudder involuntarily at the thought of going into the sea. He knew that the redhead feared water, Ran had told him last night. If Tryffin wanted to jump the boat, it must really be bad.

Ken sat up gingerly. Last night, when he'd tried to get up too fast, he found himself falling off the bed and if Ran hadn't been there to catch him, he would have probably knocked himself out cold. To his surprise, his head wasn't swimming as he'd feared and the elephant that took up residence on his chest had left. His head was still pretty wooly but he felt 120% better. He mumbled his thanks and took the cup gratefully while Tryffin touched his forehead and pronounced happily that Ken was still fever-free. For someone who had lungs full of water, he couldn't understand the need for more water. Yet he was constantly thirsty.

"How are you feeling?"

Ken looked over the rim of his cup to see Ceilen coming over to him, leaving a stalemate in his war with Ran.

Ken took the last swallow then nodded. "I feel much better, thanks."

Ceilen didn't bother touching him to see if Tryffin was right about his temperature, but peered at him closely before getting up to go to his medical kit.

"Not another shot." Ken whined and sank down on the bed, well aware that he sounded like a little kid. "I'm fine, I don't need another shot."

Tryffin snickered and Ken gave him a rough shove with his foot. "Shut up!"

Tryffin yelped and nearly fell off the bed. "Hey!" Tryffin shoved back irritably.

"Antibiotic must be administered regularly until there is no danger of the infection recurring." Ceilen lectured, ignoring the scuffles on the bed. "As it is, I won't have enough to do it properly but we should keep this up as long as we can."

"I feel fine. The pain is gone, the fever is gone, I don't need anything else." Ken continued stubbornly. "Besides, you might need it when you and Aya finally go at it for real."

Both Ceilen and Ran remained silent but the former did stick the needle into his arm with just a tad more enthusiasm than he should. Ken winced and glowered at Ceilen while Tryffin grinned evilly at him.

"Want to go for a swim Tryffin?" Ken asked with no small amount of venom.

Tryffin froze and his eyes shifted quickly to Ceilen who was busy with disposing the syringe safely. He frowned at the silent back of his bodyguard then turned to give Ken an angry look. "Shut up!" Tryffin muttered between gritted teeth. Oops. Apparently he'd reminded Tryffin of the dreaded doom that may possibly be his future. Ken forgot that it was definitely a possibility. Ran told him about some of Ceilen's plan last night.

Ran, who up until that point was standing quietly by the cabin door, cleared his throat and watched them crossly. "And what status are YOU fighting for?"

Ken thought he heard Ceilen mutter something from his corner, which sounded suspiciously like `chicken of the sea', but before he could ask for clarification, Tryffin yelled that they weren't fighting.

Ran smirked but Ken wasn't sure if he was amused with Tryffin or with Ceilen's chicken comm - Hey!

"Who're you calling chicken?" Ken pushed himself up, scowling at Ceilen's back.

Ceilen ignored him and continued to pack his medicine away. When he was done, he put the box back in the cabinet then turned to give Tryffin a troubled look.

"We have to talk."

A man of few words. Ken sighed and glanced at Tryffin who didn't look like HE wanted to talk.

"What about?" Tryffin didn't move from the bed as he eyed his bodyguard warily.

Ceilen blinked at Tryffin expressionlessly. "Options." He told the nearly squirming redhead.

Tryffin blinked back then jumped off the bed and practically ran to the other man. "Options' good."

Ken rolled his eyes; the redhead was practically giving his bodyguard the eager puppy-dog look. If he had a tail, it'd probably be wagging like crazy. "Hey, we want to talk about options too. Right, Aya?"

Ran didn't reply immediately, but looked steadily at Ceilen making the rogue agent frown irritably.

"We have a few things to do here, when we're done, we'll meet in your cabin." Ran told Ceilen. Then noticing the narrowing of the single brown eye, he added mildly, "If that's okay with you."

Ceilen looked like it wasn't okay with him but he nodded nonetheless. "Give me half an hour." He told Ran then turned and walked out the door. After a few seconds of hesitation, Tryffin followed him. He turned and gave Ran a weak smile before closing the door of the cabin.

Ken was alone with Ran.

The redhead looked thoughtfully at the closed door for a moment then turned to Ken.

"Are you up for a swim?" Ran asked quietly.

Ken took a deep breath, testing his lungs. The dull ache was still there but man was it SOOO much better. "When's the dip?" He asked back.

"I don't know but we're close."

"I should be back to normal in a day or two… but even if I have to now, you know I can do it." He tilted his chin defiantly at his leader. Not a smart thing to do since from his position on the bed, he was already looking up at Ran. He groaned and rubbed the back of his neck. Then groaned some more when he touched the still bruised lump on the back of his head.

"What is it?" Ran asked.

Ken's heart skipped a beat at the concern he heard in the deep voice. He closed his eyes briefly and willed his body to behave. He shook his head then looked up at Ran and gave him a small smile.

"I forgot about the bump you gave me."

Ran stared at him, his expression ranged from blank to guilty to surprised then to… something Ken wasn't sure he'd ever seen before. He wished he had a video camera because no one would ever believe that Ran's face was capable of more than a frown and a glare.

When Ran continued to stare at him silently, Ken fidgeted and got defensive. "What?"

The muscles in Ran's jaw worked furiously then he snapped, "You were shooting at me."

Ken groaned then fell back on the bed. Not that again. Now he really wished the shark had taken a huge bite out of Ran.

"Whatever." He murmured. What's the point? And because this was going nowhere, he changed the subject. "What have you heard from Yotan?"

Ran frowned and shook his head. "Shinji has a mild concussion; he was released this morning but still no word of Omi."

Ken pushed himself up on the bed and swung his feet over the side. He slammed his fists into the mattress on either side of his thighs and cussed loudly. "I knew we shouldn't have left! Nothing good came out of it, Aya. We sank the goddamned boat, I got sick and now Omi is gone! Shit! Shit! Shit!"

Ken, in his rage, grabbed the nearest thing - luckily it was a pillow - and threw that clear across the room. Unluckily, it hit the water pitcher, the glasses on the table and hurled them against the wall along with it.

Yes… his luck sucked. Water, glass and ceramic chips flew everywhere, dampening his fury in a flash.

"Oops… er… sorry, Aya." Ken grimaced. Ran was standing by the spot where the items had hit the wall. It didn't look like he got cut from the glass but he was soaked and small chips from the pitcher were scattered in his hair… His hands were clenched in tight fists, arms tensed along his sides. Yep… oops. Now the redhead would seriously think that Ken had something against him.

Ken didn't have time to ponder the method that Ran will use to kill him; muffled shouts and screams coming from Ceilen's cabin had probably saved his life. He and Ran glanced at each other then bolted for the door. They crashed into the next cabin and stopped abruptly just inside the doorway.

Ceilen was lying on top of a struggling Tryffin but the redhead didn't appear to be struggling to get away…

"What the hell are you doing?" Ken cried and marched into the cabin then grabbed Ceilen by the collar and tried to haul him off Tryffin. Tryffin on the other hand seemed to have other ideas and held on to Ceilen tightly.

Ceilen growled and shook Ken off him then rolled over into a sitting position, taking Tryffin with him. "What the hell happened in YOUR cabin?" He snapped while still holding Tryffin as if… he was trying to sooth his charge. Ken was very confused at this point.

Ran and Ken looked at each other, blinked blankly then turned their attention back to the pair on the floor. "Nothing." Ken said finally.

Ceilen didn't say anything but his eyebrows rose as he stared at the water still dripping from Ran's hair.

"Oh… that." Ken cleared his throat. "A little accident." He resolutely ignored the low growl coming from his leader's throat. "What's that gotta do with him? What happened?"

Ceilen sighed as he untangled himself from Tryffin. The younger man's breathing was less erratic and he was no longer whimpering though he was still clutching at Ceilen's loose shirt. "We were in a middle of an exercise…" He paused and glared at the snickering Ken. "NOT THAT kind of exercise! I was teaching him meditation techniques to help him cope with his phobia." Ceilen glowered at the two men, especially Ken who was trying unsuccessfully to stifle a giggle. "The noise from your cabin jolted him out of his meditation and he panicked."

"Oh." Ken swallowed and glanced sideways at Ran. His leader had a smug look on his face. He made a face at Ran then turned his attention back to Tryffin. "Is he okay?"

Tryffin had looked very close to hysterical when they barged in. He only looked slightly better now.

"I'm fine." The redhead answered the question himself. "Just…" He shuddered violently. "Shit, I don't know if I wanna do that again." His voice was beginning to gain strength but he continued to clutch Ceilen arm for support.

"It was working wasn't it?" Ceilen asked quietly.

"Yeah but when it didn't…" Tryffin left the sentence hanging as he tried to suppress another shudder.

Ceilen watched the bowed head silently then he got up, pulling the younger man up with him. He took Tryffin to the bed and urged him to sit down. "Rest a while then we'll try it again."

Ken noted that Tryffin didn't look like he wanted to try again but he nodded anyway. The redhead scooted up to sit with his back against the cabin wall, facing them. He pulled his legs up and wrapped his arms around them, tugging them tight against his chest.

Ceilen walked over to the computers and charts on the table, then motioned for Ran and Ken to join him.

"Thirty-six hours, gentlemen." He said as he sifted through the charts on the table. Then he pulled out a colored chart from underneath several others and straightened it out on top of the pile. Ken thought that it looked like a bunch of islands, some large some very small… and there were a lot of them.

"Spratly Islands." Ran said as he scrutinized the map. Ken gave his leader an irritated look. Sure, a few hours of nothing to do in the raft but piss Ken off and surf the net for info on Spratly Islands and the man suddenly became the resident expert on said islands.

Ceilen nodded then pointed to a larger island toward the top of the chart. "This is where they are." Ceilen didn't sound like he was too happy divulging that little piece of information. Ken wondered what changed Ceilen's mind about letting them help him.

"What are they doing there?" Ken asked, looking up from the chart. "And how do you know?"

Ran peered at the large island and frowned. "That island is supposed to be occupied by Taiwanese." He looked up sharply at the rogue agent. "This involves foreign government?"

Ceilen looked from Ken to Ran, looking very much like he was trying to decide which to address.

"No wait." Ken said abruptly as he remembered a more important issue. They couldn't do this… could they? They had to get back to Youji and find Omi. He turned to Ran and shook his head. "We've got to go back home. We've got to find Omi."

"Youji will find Omi."

"No! God, no! We can't just let Yotan do this alone. Three of us would be faster, Aya. Let's go back."

Ran glowered at him silently, as if THAT was supposed to keep him quiet.

"What happened to Omi?" Ceilen asked tightly. Ken turned to the man, not sure what business it was of his. Then he remembered that Manx had said that Ceilen was fond of Omi; that he was there to help Persia rescue their youngest assassin.

"Omi disappeared… he was checking on the Syria Faction about something called The Atlantis Project." Ran said quietly. "We think there might be a connection between the project and the Faction that dated back… many years." At the last part, Ran glanced sideways at Tryffin who was still huddled on the bed. Ken found himself looking that way as well and saw that Tryffin was watching them curiously, previous traces of hysteria seemed to have left him.

"Atlantis Project?" Tryffin's voice was soft but his eyes glinted strangely as he shifted his gaze to his bodyguard. Ken could almost hear the wheels turning in Tryffin's head.

Ceilen remained quiet. Ken had a feeling that he wasn't ready to release that information at all.

Ran ignored the redhead and turned his attention back to Ceilen. "Are you familiar with it?"

Ken learned one more thing about Ceilen that day. His death glare was at least two notches scarier than Ran's. Ken silently willed his leader to shut the hell up but Ran was in a masochistic mood and continued to grill Ceilen about the project. Ken sighed. How bad could a death glare be anyway when one was already dead on so many levels? Could any of them do what they did and still be alive and whole? Ken wasn't sure they could.

Ceilen ignored all of Ran's questions and turned to Ken. "Tell me about Omi's disappearance."

Ran narrowed his eyes at Ceilen but Ken noticed the satisfied glint in his eyes and the knowing smile that almost touched his lips. Yep, Ken could see that was all Ran needed to hear to know that the man knew and was hiding something.

Not necessarily what Ken would have deduced; Ceilen could have been really worried about Omi. But Ran was always more complicated than him.

Ken told Ceilen all he'd heard and once in a while looked to Ran for permission to include or exclude some information. Ceilen listened intently, then when Ken was done, he went over to one of the computers and started typing.

Ken turned to Ran curiously but the redhead just shrugged. Ken followed Ceilen to the computer and stood behind him as Ceilen worked. After a few seconds, the screened blacked out and series of blinking dots and blipping sounds could be heard.

"Hey, that's like that radar thingie that was in your car." Tryffin's voice next to his ear nearly made Ken jump out of his skin.

He turned to the redhead in irritation then he stuck a finger in his ear and wiggled pointedly.

Tryffin grinned then turned back to the screen. "Which one is us?"

Ceilen ignored him and smacked his hand away when Tryffin poked at the screen.

"THIS one is Omi," He said quietly.

Ken peered at the screen and frowned. "What do you mean? How do you know? They all look alike."

"It's their communication device thingie, right?" Tryffin asked next to Ken.

"You're tracking us?" Ran's voice was dangerously soft. Ken turned to the taller man quickly just in case he was needed to intervene. Ran didn't look like he was going to jump Ceilen anytime soon, though. He continued to stand rigidly next to Ken, his violet eyes staring coldly at the seated man.

Ceilen didn't answer right away but when he did, he didn't seem remorseful. "Like Tryffin said; it's Kritiker's communication unit that I monitor, not you." Ceilen didn't look up from his computer and his fingers continued to fly over the keyboard.

"Then how do you know that's Omi?" Ken asked again.

Ceilen frowned but didn't answer right away. Then he shrugged then said, "I just do."

"You just do." Ran repeated with no small amount of sarcasm. He pointed to a random green blinking dot further up the monitor and asked. "Who's that?"

Ceilen paused in his typing to look at the dot. He stared at it intently for a moment then started typing again, murmuring, "Kimura Todo."

Ken peered at the dots. He was pretty sure there was no names written anywhere on the screen. How on earth did Ceilen know who each dot was? Was he just pulling their legs?

As if he knew what was on their minds, Ceilen sighed and said, "I can't explain it to you. I just know. It has nothing to do with you, so drop it."

"Is this why they wanted you 12 years ago?" Ran asked.

Ceilen glanced up at the redhead briefly before going back to his work. "Partly."

Ken swallowed. "Will we get to see the other parts soon?"

Ceilen clenched his jaws. "Maybe."

"That's some weird shit…" Tryffin muttered under his breath as he studied his bodyguard uncertainly. "Who wanted you? Why? Because you're psychic or something?"

"No. Let's just focus on the problem at hand, shall we?" Ceilen brought images up on the screen then studied them carefully, completely ignoring the three men around him.

"Uh… I don't know about anybody else, but any weird stuff coming from you that I don't know about is a problem at hand." Ken said slowly. "Especially when it links to the other problems we have out there."

Ceilen closed his eye and rubbed irritably at the spot between his brows. Then he looked up and scowled at Ken. "THIS problem…" He pointed to himself. "…is going to help you find THAT problem…" Ceilen pointed to the green dot. "And if you don't let me work, you'll have one less problem to worry about!"

Ken scowled back silently. He was still nervous about Ceilen's unknown abilities. Dealing with Esset and Schwarz could definitely do that to you.

Suddenly Ceilen got up and went over to one of the panels that lined one side of his cabin. He muttered something under his breath and the panel opened with a soft click. From inside, Ceilen pulled out a small CD then he closed the panel, muttering something unintelligible once again.

He came back to them and looked carefully from Ran to Ken then back to Ran again. Then he looked down at the CD, frowning. As if finally he'd made up his mind, Ceilen handed the CD over to Ran.

"You wanted to know about the Atlantis Project? Here it is."

Ran studied the CD for a fraction of a moment before he took it from Ceilen. "Why?"

"Because if you don't know what you're getting yourselves into, you could get us all killed."

Gee… thanks, buddy, Ken thought grumpily. For a second there he actually thought that Ceilen trusted them.

Ran glanced quickly at Tryffin but Ceilen shook his head.

"Hey! I need to know what's going on too! What if I get us all killed?" Tryffin protested indignantly.

"You'll probably get us all killed anyway if you don't master that meditation technique."

"But…"

"Go practice." Ceilen pointed to the bed. Then he turned to Ran and Ken. "I'll find Omi. You find out about the Project."

Ran hesitated for a moment then nodded and left. Ken followed his leader reluctantly not sure why Ceilen was so eager to provide the information so readily when he avoided it like the plague earlier. Then he turned to take one last look at the rogue agent and found the man fast working on his computer again. Che! He just wanted to get rid of them!

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About 3 hours later. . . .

"Shit." Ken stared in disbelief at the laptop. "Holy fucking shit!"

Ran was silent as he too digested the information.

"No freaking way it's true, Aya. Can't be… no way…"

"It's not that impossible, Ken. Look at all the stuff we've been fighting in the past few years."

"Yeah but this is straight out of a sci-fi movie, Aya. People don't travel through dimensional gates. I mean… come on!"

"People aren't supposed to be able to move objects with their minds either but we seem to have plenty of those."

"Shit." Ken said again. "So Ceilen's… from another world? He looks human."

"His ancestors maybe… or something else, but he was born in Ireland."

"Yeah, same difference, Aya. If all this crap is true, the man is an alien, okay?" Ken ran a nervous hand through his hair. He'd never met an alien before… This was some heavy shit.

Ran sighed and rubbed his temple. He looked like he was having problems grasping this too. "He's not from outer space, Ken… just… another place."

"Yeah, another place that's not here! That's alien, Aya." Ken got up and paced the room. "How reliable do you think this information is?"

Ran thought for a moment. "I don't know but they've killed a lot of people for it."

"Well if I made up some lame ass story like this, I sure as hell don't want it made public."

Ran looked up at the pacing Ken from his position on the bed. "Aren't you taking this `made-up' story a little too seriously then?"

Ken stopped and looked sharply at Ran. "So you don't think it's true?"

"I didn't say that, you did."

Ken growled. "Damn it, Ran. What do YOU think?"

"I think I'd like to talk to Ceilen, then get on that island and find out for myself."

"Okay, that's sounds like a plan." Verifying data was always a good plan. "But in the meantime? What if he sneaks up on us while we sleep and sucks out our brains or something?"

Ran gave him a strange look. "I think you've been watching too much television."

Ken glared at him. "Oh? And like sci-fi shit doesn't happen in real life?" Ken pointed to the laptop. "Hello!"

Ran sighed. "We'll take turns sleeping if that'll make you feel better."

Ken thought about that. They had spent the night with Ceilen and they both still had their brains… though from the look on Ran's face, Ken wasn't sure the redhead thought that he (Ken) still had one.

"Okay." Ken said, still uncertain.

"I won't let him suck out your brain, Ken. I promise." Ran said softly and Ken could almost see the smile he heard in that voice.

Ken scowled at him. "I'm gonna come back and haunt you otherwise."

Ran did smile then and Ken almost choked on the strange fluttery lump that grew and grew in his chest.

Ran was truly beautiful and if the man failed in his promise… Ken wouldn't mind haunting him for all of eternity…

Oh crap! When did he turn into such a sap?

And how the hell did he get into a sci-fi fiction?

TBC…