Weiss Kreuz Fan Fiction ❯ Ghost Story ❯ Ghost Story Part 14 ( Chapter 14 )

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

Title: Ghost Story, Part 14

Author: Genuinelie(s)

Pairings: Aya/Yohji; non-graphic OmixAya-chan; KenxOC

Rating: PG-13

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?

A/N: LOL> I just realized that I wrote that description before I even knew what Watchmen was. So, uh, that last bit? Not so intentional XD;; ('Who's watching the watchmen?' Ooeeoo.)

xXxXx

Yohji woke up with a splitting headache and tried to remember where the heck he'd been the night before and what he'd done to earn him the tiny man with the jackhammer in his brain. Hangovers like the one he had were usually significant in the way that meant some stranger was going to show up to the flowershop to chew him out or ask incessantly for a second date.

But he hadn't been going out. He hadn't gone out in months. He'd been too busy conditioning himself to lose interest in life by boring himself into a stupor.

But that had changed.

He hadn't felt like that lately.

Because things had changed.

...because of Ran.

His heart felt like it skipped.

You forgot already. Can't believe it. Coffeehouse sex with Ran. Ran letting him touch him. Ran smiling, more than once, at him, because of more than just some dumb joke he'd told...

He gave a crooked smile. His memories didn't feel complete with those thoughts, though. They didn't explain the headache.

Too far. We came home, Omi called...

Yohji's eyes flew open.

"Yohji, wait!" Omi's voice unexpectedly cut through the noise of his own heart beating as he sat straight up, groaning at the pain in his head. He looked around frantically. Omi was on his feet at the side of the bed. Pale light outside his window signified dawn. Which meant he'd been out all night.

"Birman fucking drugged me!" Yohji croaked, appalled and betrayed and pissed as all hell. Recollection of the mission the night before came rushing back into sharp focus.

He slid his feet to the floor. He was missing his pants - the only thing he was wearing was boxers. Right. Because he'd been in his mission clothes, they would have needed to come off. He stood up, one hand pressed to his temple, as he looked around for his jeans.

Omi held up a hand, and Yohji realized the teen was blocking the door. Yohji shot him a sour look. His clothes had actually been put away, he'd been being neat for Ran. He went to his dresser and tugged on a pair of pants.

"Hear me out before you do anything," Omi pleaded. The tone was just for show, his expression was stubborn.

"Where is Ran?" He whirled on Omi.

"Look, Ran called in a code to Kritiker," Omi rushed, "Manx left us a note and I just had a phonecall with her. She's not telling us much. I don't know what happened. But whatever's going on, it sounded like Ran wanted it-"

A bitter taste was seeping into Yohji's throat.

Omi was holding a white piece of paper toward him. He crossed the room and snatched it from Omi.

"Aya-chan has been taken in to custody per her brother's request. Directions prior to current events were set up between us at the initiation of a safety code, which has been called in by Abyssinian on his phone line. We will contact you.

Yohji zeroed in on Omi's face. His cheeks were decorated with dried tear tracks.

"Kiritker took Aya-chan?" Yohji screeched.

"She never said Aya is dead!" Omi broke in quickly, reverting to the old name in his haste. "She never said Ran was dead, I mean. She would have, if he was."

"This makes no fucking sense." Yohji pulled at his hair, and paced a couple steps. "I'm going-"

"No! Yohji, she said on the phone that we're not allowed to go to Kritiker or Magic Bus. It could mean expulsion from Weiss, and if Ran is alive, he's not going to want to come back and find out you've done that!"

Yohji wouldn't bet on that, not just yet, but he sat down heavily on the edge of his bed. He felt shell-shocked. "What did she say about Aya-chan?"

"She said she was safe," Omi offered quietly.

Yohji grabbed the pack of cigarettes from his bedside. His hand was shaking badly. "So Aya-chan's been taken by Kritiker, Ran's not here, and he called in some goddamned code to set it all up."

"Yohji-kun, I don't think it's what it sounds like..." Omi started.

The glare he gave Omi unfortunately contained every one of his vitrolic emotions. The youngest Weiss flinched. "It fucking sounds like Ran-Ayan has decided to jump ship," he concluded.

Omi's lips were pressed into a thin line, but his eyes were wide. "He wouldn't do that,"

"We've always been allowed to visit each other in Magic Bus, kiddo," Yohji said.

"I don't think he's dead." Omi stated. "I'm worried too, Yohji-kun, they took Aya-chan! I care for Ran too! But I think Manx would tell us-"

Yohji flicked his lighter and watched the flame leap and disappear repetitively. "Where the hell is Ken?"

Omi frowned, but this time, his expression was sad. "Jun called him on our way back. He went to see him."

"Why the heck would Birman drug me?" Yohji asked as if Omi hadn't answered his question. "If he wasn't trying to leave us?" He'd meant to say 'Weiss', oh well. "Nothing went wrong on that mission and there's not a single fucking reason he'd be blamed and not us anyway, so I can't think Kritiker took him in against his will either, yanno?"

Omi paused, obviously chasing his train of thought. "Like I said, Yohji-kun, whatever is happening it sounds like it was something initiated by Ran-kun. You would have been hard to get home without any answers, and Kritiker certainly didn't give us any after you were out, only orders to go home or face punishments."

"He's either dead or bailing on us," Yohji muttered sickly. "Or being kept hostage by Kritiker."

"Kritiker wouldn't do that. There's no reason for it," Omi said.

He wanted to shake Omi. It was times like these that his upbringing came out - his ultimate faith in Kritiker, even when his own girlfriend and teammate were missing.

They fell silent and stared at each other. After a moment, Omi sat beside him on the bed and stared at the door, as if he were waiting like a dog for their housemates to come home.

Yohji bent over, putting his face in his hands.

xXxXx

Ken parked his motorcycle on the curb by Jun's apartment and stared at the people walking out and occasionally inside.

There was just no way he could do this.

It wasn't like there hadn't been precedent for telling people though. Sakura had found out, the nosy pesk.

He immediately felt bad. He actually didn't mind Sakura, he was just stressed. It wasn't just that he had to tell the guy-he-was-dating probably one of the worst things he'd had to tell anyone in his life, and that was saying a fricken' lot, but he'd left Yohji in a drugged coma and Ran was still missing and he had no clue where to even begin with that one. Omi was convinced he wasn't dead, but what did he know?

One thing at a time. He was outside Jun's apartment, so that's what he had to focus on.

Come on, Hidaka. You gotta do this. Whether or not you tell the man, he's gonna need to be comforted.

It didn't convince his feet any. His hands mutinied too, retaining their grip on the handlebars.

Shit.

Jun just exited the building. Ken's eyes darted furtively from side to side, looking for an escape or a handy excuse for why he was just sitting outside like a dork. Finding none, he gave Jun a sheepish, nervous smile with one hand behind his head. "Hey."

Jun didn't look half as miserable as Ken was expecting. He gave him a broad smile. "Hey yourself. You planning on coming up? Or just sitting there and looking cool?" He walked forward and bumped his shoulder into Ken's as he dismounted, helmet in the crook of one elbow.

They walked toward the building. Ken eyed Jun out of the corner of his eye. "Uh, you doin' okay?

Jun's smile faltered, for a very brief moment. "Yeah? You?"

"Uh..." It was possible Jun hadn't heard.

Oh crap. Oh crap oh crap oh crap. He was so not prepared or willing to break the news of his father's death to him. It had only been one night, what if Jun hadn't been notified yet? What if it hadn't even made the news? Who knows what Kritiker's clean-up team had done!

Ken had halted in the midst of his mental panicking. Jun turned to face him, looking suspicious. "What?"

"Uh..." Ken said again.

Jun peered at him, then suddenly, his shoulders sagged. "Oh. You heard."

"Uh..." Ken responded articulately.

His guy-that-he-was-dating gave a sigh. "Huh. I was hoping you hadn't...not like - well, come on, come on, let's go in." Jun tugged on his arm, face averted.

Ken followed him, eyes on his back distrustfully. They were silent in the elevator and up to his apartment.

"Hey, man," Ken started. He didn't even take the time to look around, even though this was the first time he'd seen Jun's pad. "I'm really sorry-"

"Look," Jun interrupted him. He shut the door behind them and turned to face Ken. "I didn't want to talk about this with you. But I guess you heard, so it sucks. You heard my dad was killed last night? Let me tell you. My old man was a bastard. A real bastard. I can't even-" Jun's breathing had noticably quickening. Ken stepped nearer to him, and put a hand on his arm. Jun sent him a look of mixed panic and gratitude. "He never - I was the oldest son, you know...Ken, man, maybe we should sit for this."

Jun turned abruptly and paced by a couch. Ken peered around a bit at the apartment. It was clean and neat - there were soccer posters on the wall and sports magazines on the table, a signed ball in a case, a total rich kid's apartment - shit, he hoped Jun wouldn't mind a little mess if they saw this out, 'cause he just wasn't a neat guy, himself...

"Sit down, okay? I don't even, look, I don't even know how to tell you, but you gotta know. I'm just gonna tell you. You're gonna find out. I like you," Jun paused and looked askance at Ken. Ken threw himself down on the couch, trying to look as un-assassinlike as he could. Jun sat down next to him. "I really like you. So you're gonna - well, you're probably gonna find out the whole story whether or not I tell you, so I better just....and the bastard's dead. He never hurt me, I gotta say that, but Ken, fuck man, I used to have a little brother, he went missing. I never told you that, did I? You know who the main suspect was? My dad. Yeah. But the case never went anywhere. And the shittiest thing is, man, I really think he did it..."

Jun was staring off at nothing, voice monotone. "Just so you know. Why I'm not upset. Why I'm happy that asshole-haven't even talked to him in years, man, years, and I get this call last night-"

"Well," Ken stated flatly. He watched Jun carefully. "I guess that makes this a bit easier."

xXxXx

Water was dripping intermittently into the sink, and noise from a stray car here and there broke into the kitchen. Other than that, there was pretty much zilch going on. Omi wished there was a voice or the television or some music coming from any of the apartments. Even if it were being played too loudly or punctuated by Ken's screaming at a soccer match, he'd even welcome that at this point.

Omi must have done a good job of convincing Yohji he was a-ok, because otherwise he'd like to think Yohji would have stuck around to watch out for him.

The older man had pretty much snuck out though the second Omi's back was turned.

Oh, Yohji-kun, you had so not better have gone to Magic Bus.

He was having regret about convincing Yohji everything was just fine. He wished he were a slightly worse liar. He would really, really, really have liked some company right then. Even Yohji looking suicidal and raising their chances of getting lung cancer before they were 30 was better company than none at all.

And waiting on three people was definitely better than waiting on four people to return.

Waiting on no one at all would be even better.

They're all okay. Ken's just talking with his boyfriend. Yohji's just...well, he's probably just walking. It's too early for anything else. Way too early. So he's fine.

Omi decided this time, he really could blame Yohji for going out. It was only 3 p.m. A whole day hadn't even passed. He should be at home, waiting with Omi for everyone to get back, because that was what their teammate and Aya-chan and certainly Ken deserved. Ken especially might need cheering up, and it was just irresponsible for Yohji to leave like that!

He glared at the window above the sink, which was still not fixed and still boarded up.

See? He thought, glowering harder. Ran needs to come back and pay for that, because that is so not my fault.

His expression faltered after a moment, however, and his eyes dropped to his hands, clasped in front of him on the table.

...if Ran was dead....

Omi swallowed past a lump. He wasn't. Kritiker would have told them. Something else was going on, he was sure of it. Ran just needed to sort it out, and then he'd be back.

And then Aya-chan would be back.

And then he'd call Yohji, and he'd be back.

And he was positive that Ken would be back soon enough anyway, with news that he and Jun were just fine. Although that one, Omi had to admit he cared a little less about.

Omi pushed his cell phone around the table for a bit, then made himself stop. He finally pulled his legs up onto the chair and wrapped his arms around them. He stared at the clock. The way it was ticking a moment before the sink dripped was getting incredibly annoying, but he'd already tried and failed to get the faucet fixed.

Oh, Aya-chan. I wish you'd call.