Weiss Kreuz Fan Fiction ❯ Chains ❯ Slight Me ( Chapter 45 )

Chapter Forty-Five: Slight Me

Yohji would like to say he listened calmly to Manx’s lecture on safety, security, and generally fucking around with Kritiker business.

Obviously, he hadn’t. To his credit, he had managed to stay seated throughout, but by the end he was jonesing for a smoke and indulging in the nervous habit of bouncing his knee. The minute she dismissed him, he slipped out the door and into the back yard, pulling out his cigarettes as he went. It was only when it took three flicks of his silver lighter that he realized his hands were shaking.

“Shit,” he swore, his lips wrapped around the cigarette that wasn’t calming him as much as he hoped it would.

He had dug himself in deep. The worst of it was, he had drug Aya and the team with him. Kritiker was pissed, and while Yohji liked to think he didn’t give a good god damn what they thought of him, having a world class organization after your head was not something you wanted. And if Manx’s attitude was any indication, Yohji was on the list of watched personnel.

Until Aya completed the evaluation, Weiss was considered compromised. Excluded from intel. Out of the computer system. Off missions. Courtesy of Yohji Kudou. He hoped he could pitch it to the guys as a six week vacation, but since it wasn’t paid time off, he doubted they would be very receptive.

Six weeks. But he didn’t regret pressing for the extra two. Hell no. It would be hard enough to hone Aya into some kind of shape.

And he had to. Manx had made it perfectly clear what would happen if Aya didn’t pass the test. As Yohji had suspected, if he showed some promise but “failed to be mission-ready,” he would be taken in for training. This could mean two things; Aya might be trained (usually a quick and brutal process that made a person able to do their job and defend themselves) or he might be eliminated.

Yohji hadn’t saved him to have the boy tortured by the psychos that served as training agents, and he sure as hell wasn’t going to let Kritiker kill him off. If that was the outcome, then–

Yohji cut off the thought. Going rogue wasn’t an option.

But six weeks.

He lit another cigarette.

Damn Manx and her fucking schedules. It was all bullshit.

~*~

They sat in the living room; the television was off and no one was saying anything. It made him nervous.

Omi was curled up on one end of the couch, alternating between watching the basement door and watching Aya. The redhead was, as per Omi’s instruction, sitting on the other end of the sofa. He sat with strict posture, his bowed head alone breaking the straight line of his spine. His hands rested on his knees, one rising every few minutes to tug on one of the long pieces of hair near his face.

Ken didn’t like to spend too long looking at him. While the painful thinness and unkempt neglect wasn’t prominent anymore, there were still lingering signs that made Aya seem not right in their living room. And though he knew he probably shouldn’t, he couldn’t help be a little angry at the kid for disrupting their lives. They had enough to deal with.

The basement door clanged, and Manx shot them an evaluative glance before walking out.

They waited for Yohji. Ken noticed Omi was chewing his bottom lip, probably feeling just as nervous as he was. Something was off, really off, with the whole situation. With a glance at Aya, Ken saw him pull harder on his hair.

“Don’t, Aya-kun,” Omi said quietly, like he was talking to someone on the television who couldn’t really hear him. He reached his hand out, but didn’t move close enough to touch the other. Aya nodded without looking and placed his hands resolutely on his knees.

They listened, waiting. A strange thought struck Ken. What if Manx had killed Yohji? Who knew what she carried in that bag; he had seen a gun there once, and it wasn’t like she didn’t know how. Or maybe she has sent him away, some kind of punishment for disobeying security protocols. There could be a note down there right now, while they all sat up there, waiting for him when he wouldn’t come. It was dumb, he knew, but it was a hard fight not to jump up and check, just in case, or at least call out.

Ken made a deal with himself; he would sit patiently for ten more minutes, then if Yohji didn’t show, he was going to check.

Eight minutes passed before Yohji came up the stairs. His hair was down, and he had his sunglasses pushed all the way up over his eyes. He seemed surprised to see them all there. He walked past, once, then came back with his short navy trench loose around him and a lit cigarette in his mouth. Braced stiffly in the doorway, he took a couple drags off the smoke then held it in his hand as he talked.

“Kritker’s pissed. No missions for six week, until we’re no long ‘compromised,’” he said the word with disgust, half laughing over it. “I’m going out.”

“Yohji-kun, what–”

“Tomorrow, kid. I’ll deal with it tomorrow,” he waved away the concern, shoving the cigarette back into his mouth.

“But, Aya-kun…”

“Watch him, will you?”

He didn’t wait for an answer before he turned from the doorway. Ken heard the jingle of his keys and the soft closure of the back door.

He didn’t want to look, but something made him. For the first time since they got upstairs, Aya’s head was up. His eyes were glued on the place where Yohji had been, and he looked almost scared. Ken suddenly felt sorry for him, just then, left behind like a little brother too young to play with the big kids. He wanted to invite Aya somewhere, to include him, but he couldn’t think of anything safe to say.

“I’m going downstairs to watch the game.”

He left. Just like Yohji.

At least he felt bad about it.

~tbc~


Notes: I’ve been a little stuck on this, but the next chapter is in the works. The more reviews, the faster it gets done…I don’t make the rules, that’s just how it is. *nods sagely and tries not to look suspicious*