Weiss Kreuz Fan Fiction ❯ Ghost Story ❯ Ghost Story Part 6 ( Chapter 6 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

Title: Ghost Story

Author: Genuinelie(s)

Pairings: Aya/Yohji; het (!)

Rating: Right now, PG-13 for language and suggestion

Status: Ongoing

Summary: Yohji's housemates decide he needs help with a problem he doesn't want discovered, but that's pretty hard when you're being watched so carefully. But is someone watching the watchers?

xXxXx

"That was unprofessional, Kudoh." Aya followed Yohji upstairs, his steps hitting the floor heavily.

"Oh, don't start." Yohji's wrist and hand sported wet streaks of blood, but he ran his fingers through his hair anyway. "The 'dark beasts' weren't there yet."

"We could have been taken by surprise!" Aya was one wrong word away from grabbing Yohji's heels and flinging him back down the stairs.

"I wasn't the one who took my mic off, Ayan. Rules are rules, we have to stay in contact with the group." Yohji's voice took on a timbre mocking Omi's.

"Guys!" Omi's voice trailed up after them. "Please, Aya-chan is still upstairs!"

They could both see that. Aya's sister was in the hallway, apparently waiting to greet them. Her mood visibly changed from relieved to anxious.

"All of us are fine, Aya. Omi's downstairs. Kudoh and I have to talk, I'll clean up and come back to see you after that. Okay?" Aya said.

Yohji took off down the hallway, into his room.

"No." Aya-chan said. "No, it's not okay. Why are you yelling at him?"

"It has to do with the mission." Aya stated.

"I don't believe you!" Aya-chan frowned at him. She put her hands on her hips. She was in her nightgown and had obviously gotten up only to see them home.

"It's not your business," Aya replied, frowning. He wanted to get out of the hallway, away from her inspection of his face and his mission clothes and the katana he still held. "I thought we agreed you wouldn't get up on mission nights."

"I heard you yelling." She frowned harder. "And...and I was worried. And, 'not my business?' Like Omi and I aren't your business, Ran?"

It took any reply he had away for a minute. "What makes you..."

"It's not a secret! I was helping Omi set Yohji-kun up all this time, did you know that? Everyone here knows he likes you, and I don't believe for a minute that you don't. I heard what he said to you in the shop." Her voice lowered, obviously considering the proximity of Yohji's room. "I'm not stupid! I've seen you watching him when I get up at night for a drink!"

"Aya-chan...I'm not..." Aya worked his mouth, trying not to let it set into an expression too dire for his sister.

"You talk to him, Ran! Sometimes more than me. Remember when I got jealous that one summer? You were hanging out so much with that other boy, and you cried when his family moved. I remember how you looked then, like your heart was breaking, so don't you dare tell me you can't like him back."

That wasn't what he'd been about to say, but the sudden memories being flung at him thre him off-balance. "Aya. Leave it be."

The frown on her face lessened, but the look that replaced it was worse. It was worry, and sadness.

The siblings faced off. After a long moment, Aya-chan walked toward him and made to put her arms around her shoulders.

"Don't touch me," Aya said, alarmed. He took a step away from her.

She looked like she'd been slapped.

"Not...Aya, not until I've changed clothes." Aya was already doing his best to keep his katana pressed close to his leg, out of her sight.

The hurt on her face lessened. She gave him a small, resolute nod. "I, I just don't want you to hurt each other," she whispered. "I love you."

She turned and ran downstairs. He heard Omi give a small happy exclamation.

Omi didn't have to worry about blood on his hands or his clothes. His weapons were long-range.

Aya would have liked to punch the wall, but didn't feel like cleaning it or leaving the bloodstain for Aya-chan to see.

Aya marched to Yohji's room and flung open the door without knocking. Yohji spun toward him, in the act of taking off his shirt. His coat was already in a heap on the floor. He finished pulling it over his head and levelled Ran with a steady stare as his right hand lowered, brushing his own chest and finally hooking a thumb in the waist of his mission pants.

"You've involved everyone," Aya growled.

"I think that was you," Yohji replied lightly, his eyes wary. "You've spied on everyone here except Ken, yanno."

Aya brought his katana up level with Yohji's chest. "You've been falling apart, Yohji. If you don't want to be in Weiss, you shouldn't be. You're becoming a threat to this team."

Yohji laughed. "You're going to kill me, Aya? Why? Do you hate me that much?" He immediately lost all trace of humor. "I'm not going to fight you, so you're going to win this, you know. Do it, then. If you're going to dispatch me for Kritiker, I'd rather it be you, Ran-Ayan." He spread his arms and kept his eyes on Aya's.

"Why don't you just leave? Start over. Stop all of this..." Aya felt his features contort.

"Just do it!" Yohji snapped. With his fake humor gone, something hard was left in its place.

Aya brought his katana down in a swift arc. It halted one inch from Yohji's neck.

With a hiss, he removed it.

Yohji let out an audible breath. Within the same moment, his wire was wrapped around Aya's blade. "What did you mean, when you said maybe you weren't pretending? To be a ghost? Is that what you meant?"

Aya snarled at him. "You weren't even going to defend yourself against me. Now you want to talk?"

Yohji took a step toward him. Aya tried to bring the katana back up, but Yohji tugged on its new leash. "Nuh-uh. I'll win if we fight now, baby."

"Why is that?" Aya narrowed his eyes.

"Because between the two of us, I'm the only one who wants to live." Yohji took a step closer. His eyes raked over Aya's face. "How did I miss that?"

"You were willing enough to die a moment ago." Aya snapped. He tugged again on his sword, but Yohji had it thoroughly lassoed. "What changed, Kudoh?"

Yohji's hand reached out and brushed an eartail away from Aya's cheek. "You didn't kill me."

Aya yanked his sword free and zigzagged it to slam the hilt into Yohji's stomach. He doubled over. Aya's fist clenched as he stood still for a moment, working his mouth around words he couldn't find. Yohji didn't see, he was gasping for breath.

Finally Yohji looked up at him, green eyes both hurt and determined. "Ran..."

Aya left. He slammed the door behind him.

xXxXx

Yohji found him on the roof. It was the first place he checked, and a good thing, because his abs hurt like a sunovabitch from where Aya had struck him. The blow had come from nowhere; he'd thought their little spat was over. It was Aya though - he should have expected it.

He's a depressed, fucked-up bastard. Yohji dubiously reassured himself. It won't be anything close to normal. Neither of them were normal, anyway. Aya is the only one you actually feel connected with anymore. He has to feel it, or he wouldn't have been haunting you. I can't believe he admitted that.

Aya looked over at him, finally catching on that he wasn't alone anymore. He had been grinding the palms of his hands into his eyes. He lowered them; Yohji took note that the katana was on the ground, not at his waist. "You thought I would kill you," Aya's voice was shakier than Yohji expected, he paused in his path to the man's side. "And yet you say I'm like that woman to you."

It made Yohji bare his teeth in not-quite-a-smile. "She wanted to kill me too, yanno."

Aya crouched down on the ledge and looked away from him. "Is that what love is to you, Yohji? Did she ruin you that much?"

The words hit him like another sword hilt in his gut. Yohji watched him warily. "Aya, that's not..."

When Aya looked back up at him, his face was riddled with lines of stress. "You thought I would kill you. If that's..." Aya gave a slight shake of his head, lips curled with disgust. "How can you claim to...why are you still pursuing this?"

Well, shit. Yohji swallowed. "You didn't."

Aya shook his head slightly. His mouth was drawn in a grim line. A breeze blew across the roof and tousled his hair, the locks a dark blood-red in the dim light from the streetlamps below the building.

"Aya...Ran, I didn't think I'd need to repeat myself here, and I know this isn't the best timing, but fuck, I didn't mean to say it earlier and now I have to or you're never going to let me explain myself." The words rushed out of Yohji's mouth.

Aya stood up. Yohji noticed he'd brought his katana up with him. "You don't know me."

"Maybe I'd like to! Dammit, Ran!" Yohji passed a hand over his face and through his hair. He felt like screaming. He saw the potential between them so clearly, the potential to find some meaning in what was left of their lives; and yet the other man appeared completely blind to it. "Let me finish. I know you well enough to know I fucking love you."

Aya frowned and opened his mouth. Yohji hastily cut him off. "We've lived together for a long time. I talk to you every day. And you talk to me too, dammit. I know you don't go to anyone else when you're actually feeling like you want to be with someone, at least not someone other than your sister, so don't even try. I've made you smile, I know I have, so don't you dare deny that too, Ayan. This goes fucking deeeper than just being teammates and you fucking know it!"

"You will get over this." Aya watched him with a hard expression. His eyes were almost black in the near-darkness and completely unreadable.

Yohji steeled his resolve. He crossed the distance between them so he could see the man's face better. It didn't help, and it made Aya glare at him. "You said I was a threat to the team. That's not it, is it, Ayan? You meant I was a threat to you." Yohji was on completely unsteady ground, and in this arena, he was unused to it. Only one other person ever got to you like this.

Aya looked away.

"Have you seen my sister, Yohji?" Aya finally spoke. "Does she look as happy to you as when she first returned? I did that to her, by bringing her into this life."

"Bullshit," Yohji spat.

Aya's lips thinned.

Yohji's eyes widened. "You think..."

No. That was simply idiotic.

"You're protecting me...from you? Is that what you think you're doing?" Yohji's voice sounded amazed, even to his own ears.

Aya readjusted his grip on his katana, Yohji saw his fingers flex on it.

Scraps of realization like tatters of a rag were repairing themselves into a whole tapestry in Yohji's mind. The final image he saw wasn't anything he had actually anticipated.

"So that's what you meant. You think you're a ghost. You think you can just set your sister up and leave her. You think you can pawn me off to a different life." Yohji's voice rose into a shout. "Am I right, Ran?" He grabbed Aya by his biceps, dragging him away from the ledge. Aya stumbled, not expecting it, and tried to tear free.

"I'm not suicidal." Aya's voice was flat. He yanked on his arm again, but Yohji had a firm grip on his coat by that point. Aya hadn't raised his sword despite that.

"Because you're too responsible, is that it? But you've been taking care of your responsibilities." Fear was driving the anger in Yohji's voice. A note of wonder joined the other emotions. "You think I'm one of them. So you do care. You fucking care, Ran."

"Let go of me!" Aya glared at him.

"I don't want to," Yohji passed a hand through his hair. "Dammit, Ran, I don't want to and it's my choice, got that?!"

Aya twisted out of Yohji's grip. He watched Yohji with his face shadowed by crimson shafts of hair.

Yohji took a deep breath. He might love him, but at the moment he really did feel like fighting Aya. "So I'm not right? Swear to it. Swear you aren't just giving up on yourself."

Aya shot him a poisonous look, but didn't answer.

Yohji felt his own expression turn pained. "Fuck. Fuck it, Aya, you're not a demon. We do what we do to protect innocents, remember? We're not any sort of dark beast. We deserve to find happiness with at least each other!"

Aya closed his eyes. It took him a moment, but finally he spoke. "I'm not planning on leaving this, Kudoh." He opened his eyes and met Yohji's. "You should."

"What?" Yohji felt like laughing. That almost sounded like Aya was planning for his future. "You've thought this through. You've thought about it, and you're still not planning on giving me a chance. Don't you dare place yourself in a different category than me, we do the same damned job, Ayan. I'm not planning on leaving this either. Not if I have you."

"That's what I'm-!" Aya finally rose his voice. "Goddamnit, Yohji."

"You know what? At this point, I don't think I'd be happier doing anything else, Ran. I've just been searching to make this whole mess of my life less lonely, and you aren't what I was expecting, but God, you're a lot fucking more than I deserve."

Yohji was stunned to see that Aya had actually started to tremble. It couldn't be because the man was cold - he was still in his mission coat and Yohji was warm enough without his shirt. He wasn't meeting his eyes any longer.

"You still haven't left, or pushed me over the edge of the roof," Yohji pointed out quietly.

There was a twitch on the corners of Aya's mouth, but Yohji wasn't stupid enough to mistake it for amusement.

When he raised his head, Aya searched Yohji's eyes with his own. "So you think you know what you want. You're an idiot, Kudoh."

"No, you know what? You don't know what I want." Yohji snapped at him, and stepped forward, brushing the fabric of Aya's mission coat with his bare chest. Aya started to step backwards, but Yohji grabbed his arm tightly. "I want to make you happy. I want you to give me the chance to fucking make you happy, Aya!"

Aya's expression was inscrutable. They faced off silently, with Yohji trying to keep it together as best he could while Aya obviously tried to find a way to explain he never wanted to be happy and didn't deserve to, anyway.

"Which am I?" Aya suddenly barked at him.

"What?" Yohji's eyebrows shot up.

"You keep switching. Either I'm Aya to you, or I'm Ran. Which is it, Yohji?" Aya narrowed his eyes at him. "I don't care, but choose."

"You're both. No, fuck. Okay. You're Ran. You've always been Ran." Yohji narrowed his eyes right back at the redhead, unsure what the question meant to him. "You're still the same person either way, yanno. What the hell does it matter what I call you? What do you want to be called?"

Ran didn't answer for a moment, but examined Yohji's face. "Fine."

Yohji spread his arms helplessly. "It doesn't matter, Ran."

In a burst of movement, Ran stepped forward without warning and pressed their bodies together. He brushed his eyes only briefly across Yohji's, almost like he was seeking permission for something, and suddenly, Ran's lips were on his. Ran gripped Yohji's shoulders, as if he actually thought Yohji was going somewhere.

Yohji's eyes widened but his body caught up with him before he did something stupid like step backward with surprise. After the shock wore off, he reciprocated enthusiastically. Ran's mouth was softer than he was expecting, but it was hard and insistent on Yohji's. They stumbled backward a couple of steps, off-balance with frantic movement. Yohji kept his hands on Ran's back, not assuming he was granted permission for anything else, but Ran's hands threaded through his hair and then traveled down his back to his thighs and back again to his shoulders. Yohji's hips pressed forward automatically into Ran's before he could stop himself. For a brief, wonderful moment, he could feel Ran's body was responding to his.

Abruptly, Ran broke away.

Yohji felt the smile bloom on his face and knew he looked like a complete, happy fool in the face of what was certainly the kiss of death.

Ran had opened his mouth and looked like he was about to either yell at Yohji or hit him, but there was a note of resignation there. Suddenly, he did a doubletake.

Yohji almost, almost laughed, but he wasn't certain he would keep from crying with frustration if he let go of even a shred of control.

Ran closed his mouth, and he suddenly scanned Yohji's face.

Ran's eyebrows went up. His mouth parted slightly. He blinked.

Yohji stepped forward and reached a hand up to brush hair away from Ran's forehead. "Was that so horrible, Ran?"

Ran worked his mouth. "I..." He took a step backwards.

Yohji's eyebrows went up as he suddenly figured it out. "Yeah. That made me happy, Ran."

The other man looked so confused that Yohji couldn't quite hold back a small chuckle. It held a note of bitterness.

So this is where Ran tells you that seeing you happy is the last thing he wants.

Ran still wore that same surprised expression. Yohji gave him an encouraging smile despite the feeling he was like a moth heading for a bonfire. "Yeah," he said again. "Yeah, you make me happy, Ran."

Suddenly, Ran threw his katana down. It clattered away from them noisily. Yohji stared after it, bemused. He looked back to see Ran working with the buckles on his mission coat.

"What are you..." Yohji watched him with amazement. The man shrugged out of the heavy leather jacket quickly, the clothing falling to the ground. Ran's chest was moving with quick, silent breathing under the thin fabric of his black undershirt.

"You're an idiot," Ran stressed to him again. "So this is your fault. But if this is what you want, Yohji," he paused and looked up to catch Yohji's eyes before looking away again. "You already know I've been watching you."

Yohji didn't take the time to make sure Ran meant what he hoped/thought/knew/hoped he meant. He stepped closer. He watched in confusion as Ran spread his coat flat on the ground.

Ran glanced up at him.

"If you mean what I think you mean..." Yohji eyed the coat, then eyed Ran's face, then back to the coat. It didn't look inviting, but Yohji found he didn't care if Ran was suggesting what he thought he was suggesting.

Ran gave him another hooded look. "If you need anything to do this, you should get it." The redhead's stressed, pale face actually began to look worried. "Unless you don't want..."

Yohji choked. "Fuck, Ran, how can you even ask that? I'm not complaining. But just a second ago...it's gonna kill me if you do this just once. If you're doing this out of pity, or because you think it's gonna be enough, you might as well go back to plan A and just run me through and be done with it."

Ran paused. He had his fingers on the hem of his mission shirt, about to pull it over his head. "It was the look on your face, Yohji. I didn't think..." He trailed off. He looked up then, and for the first time, Yohji saw his expression soften into a look Yohji categorized as 'Ran's face.' The one he used when he looked at his sister.

Ran sat down on the blanket, and wrapped his bare arms around his knees. He looked up again at Yohji. "I will...try this." He looked away again. "That's all I can promise."

Yohji didn't bother asking why they didn't move to one of their bedrooms, he knew the answer. He took another hard look at Ran to make sure he was serious, then bolted for the stairs.

xXxXx

The three remaining residents of the Koneko were in the mission room. Omi had an arm around Aya-chan, who was in a nightgown. The two were sitting on the couch. Ken was sitting backwards in a chair, trying very hard not to look at Aya's sister.

Ken threw a worried glance toward the stairs. It was more than a little pissed off, too. He was still in his mission gear, but Omi had told him not to go upstairs and Aya-chan had agreed with him. He thought it was stupid to let Yohji anywhere near Aya, but if the man's own sister thought it was for the best, then he wasn't about to be the scapegoat for the fallout by showing up in the middle of a showdown between the two oldest Weiss. Because in Ken's mind, that was the only outcome possible. "Are you both sure..." He started.

"Yes." Both Aya-chan and Omi said.

"Ran will be okay," Aya-chan stated firmly. "Yohji-kun will be good for him."

"If Aya-kun, I mean, Ran-kun doesn't..." Omi sounded a little worried.

"He won't." Aya-chan looked cross for a moment.

Omi looked nervously at her. "Sorry, Aya-chan! He can really be grumpy sometimes, though..."

Ken snorted at the understatement of the century. "I know he's your brother, Aya-chan, but he can also be a pretty big bastard. I still don't think he needs Yohji's fucked-up..."

"Ken-kun!" Omi snapped. "How can you talk like that about Yohji-kun?"

Ken shrugged. "He's a great guy, but you gotta admit, he goes through his dates..."

"I might not know Yohji-kun very well, but this is different." Aya-chan looked resolute. "He really loves him, I know it."

"Mm-hm." Ken muttered. "He kil-"

"KEN-KUN!" Omi roared at him. He immediately looked contrite. "That's NOT the same thing, and isn't..."

"I know, I know..." Ken said, and genuinely felt like a jackass. Even if it was true.

"Boys!" Aya-chan rolled her eyes. "You really are clueless." She stuck out her tongue at Omi.

Omi kissed her. She giggled and snuck a glance sideways at Ken, a little guiltily, then kissed Omi back.

Ken gagged, and hoped that if Aya was going to kill Yohji, he would do it soon, so he could flee to his room. He was happy for Omi and Aya-chan, but they were both pretty cute on their own - he was beginning to suspect that he would only be able to take them together in small doses, or he'd start seeing rainbows, kittens, puppies and bunnies every time he closed his eyes.

A door closed upstairs. A single pair of footsteps were heard, a door opened, then the footsteps came back and faded.

Ken was pretty sure everyone present was imagining Aya coming down to pick up some rags and cleaning solution to take care of what was left of Yohji on the pavement.

"Actually," Omi said after a moment of silence, "Maybe I should go check on them."

Even Aya-chan didn't argue with him.

xXxXx

TBC.

xXxXx