Weiss Kreuz Fan Fiction ❯ Love Me ❯ The Mission ( Chapter 3 )

Aye… it's been a long time, sorry for the delayed update. I had to straighten out and clear up some things because I guess this was supposed to be partly humorous after all.

But thanks for the great reviews, they have been put to use.

---------------------------------------------

Love Me

Chapter 3 - The Mission

It was as innocent a night as any without a mission to execute and no rush orders of flower arrangements to tend to. The night was young and the cool air was as if it was coaxing inhabitants of indoors to abandon their self-brought cages and step forth into the subtle darkness, those who succumbed included three unlikely assassins. The fourth and final member of the team who had suffered from a recent operation was alone in their home, sitting in front of the television idly flipping through channels and nursing a broken leg. Frustrated by finding no soccer game on, he gave up and slowly slid his body to drape casually along the soft living room couch careful to prop the heavy cast on the armrest. He scowled at the cast on his left leg, blaming his imprisonment and immobility on it, he could have been out like the others enjoying the last of the summer nights before autumn crept in, but no, he couldn't move around without a crutch and it would be that way for the next few weeks, dammit.

That night they were suddenly ambushed by a crowd of seedy gang members midway into their assignment and Ken was thrown into a very compromising position when he alone was cornered by nearly a dozen of them. Fortunately, they were only armed in blades and steeled bats, if they had had guns Ken was sure he'd die a man riddled with holes and smoking lead. He did his best fighting and dodging taking half of them down before a crushing impact brought him to the floor. They quickly tackled him and skilfully pinned him in place as the leader slowly tortured him in an attempt to gain information. To their folly, the rest of Weiss stealthy located Ken and killed off their remaining forces.

Omi was the first to notice Ken's sickly twisted leg and was crouched beside him in concern shooting off questions regarding his condition and scanning his battered body for other injuries. Ken was touched by the outward worry shown by everyone, even Aya who wordlessly carried him to the car. Sure, Omi probably would have had some difficult supporting all of his weight and Youji was injured himself, and considering the circumstances, the fact that Aya volunteered wasn't to unreal, even so, it caused Ken's secret crush to elevate into something more.

Ken was brought back to his current surroundings when the front door opened and Omi popped in cheerily, greeting him.

"Hey Omi, you're back early."

"Yeah, homework."

Ken grinned lightly recalling the days when he had to worry about handing in his math problems and history papers, it seemed so long ago. "Need any help?"

"That's okay, you need your rest."

"Yes, yes, I'm sure I won't get the marks fit for a genius." Ken woefully said, sighing dramatically, a bit too much like Youji would.

"Mou Ken-kun, not you too. I am not a genius." Omi retorted, easily catching the good-natured joke.

"Sure you're not, 'Mr. I got a A-, I will hang my head in shame.'"

"What?! That's not-! Who told you that?"

"I have my sources." Omi huffed in annoyance and flopped down beside Ken trying to glare and failing badly. "Careful with that, I'm an injured man." With that, Omi ruffled Ken's hair like everyone else did to him, smiling when he succeeded. Ken tried to frown at the younger boy for taking advantage of his immobility only to shake his head and chuckle, they all knew Omi hated having his hair ruffled, regardless Youji and him did it anyways just to tease him, guess Omi'll be getting his revenge for at least the next little while.

"Are you feeling better Ken-kun? Is your leg doing fine?"

"Aa. Just sick of sitting around all day, I think I'm starting to mould."

"That's good, I mean the getting better part not the mould. Where's everyone else?"

"We won't see Youji till tomorrow afternoon at best and Aya's not home either."

"Aya-kun went out?"

"Yeah, just umm, an hour ago he didn't even tell me where he was going."

"Wow, Aya-kun going out at night, that's rare."

Ken nodded his head in agreement. "He just left like that without saying anything."

"Hmm, oh well, I've got to get to work or I won't get any sleep tonight. Do you need anything while I'm here? I might not hear you from my room later." Ken shook his head and waved his hand in dismissal, glad Omi was offering but not wanting to distract him anymore from impeding homework. "Yell really really loud if you need me okay? Jya."

Ken watched the retreating back of his friend and sighed, he actually wanted a glass of water since it was time for his painkillers. He was injured, not useless he chided himself and slowly pushed his upper body up labouring to reach for the crutch, he almost had it before it toppled to the carpeted floor with a soft thud, away from him. He gave up with a grunt and glared daggers at the betraying piece of metal lying out of his immediate reach. He didn't need water to swallow pills, he was an assassin after all. After fighting with the two not-so-innocent pills Ken laid down again dully keeping note to never swallow THOSE pills without liquid especially after one almost went up his nose.

His expression softened upon seeing the small chibi figure Omi had expertly drawn on his cast and right next to it the pathetically drawn 'beautiful woman' Youji attempted. He claimed it would keep Ken company through his lonely nights, too bad it resembled a heavily endowed transvestite, a very scary one. The only person who didn't leave any mark on his badly vandalized cast was Aya. The brunette found his mind wandering off to the redhead. He could count on one hand the number of times he noticed Aya go out at night with something non-mission related, the stoic man usually made his secretive errands during the day. No one really questioned him out of respect for his privacy, everyone was entitled to have their own secrets. Ken's growing infatuation for him however, made the younger man dare to step beyond those unspoken bounds.

He waited for several restless hours that night, wanting to see the object of his affection safely return home and so he remained in the living room even when Omi offered to help him to his room to retire for the night. It was well past midnight before a soft click alerted the brunette someone had returned and in his eagerness to go and greet the redhead he momentarily forgot about his injured leg. The sudden jar caused him collapse painfully to the floor with a soft cry. Aya found Ken lying on his side cursing and reflexively holding onto his left leg in an undignified heap.

"Ken?"

"… just a moment… pain." Aya's amusement went unseen as he patiently waited. "… Heh, hey Aya…" The redhead continued to look at him and Ken blushed furiously in embarrassment. It seemed that was all he ever did since the addition of the man standing before him. "… Umm."

"It's late, go to bed."

Ken was tired and he wanted to go sleep in his own room too, but he knew from experience trying to trek up the stairs alone was a small conquest paved with agonizing mishaps. "Ano… Aya, could you… um…" Before Ken finished stammering, Aya had already retrieved his crutch and was helping him stand on it, he placed the brunette's right arm over his shoulders and tucked the crutch under Ken's other side as he slowly steered them towards the long staircase.

Ken thought he was dreaming as they climbed the steps side by side so close together he could almost hear their soft even breathes. This was the first time being so close to the taller man other than the day when his leg was broken. When Aya carried him off that day, he was in too much pain and barely able to retain his consciousness to fully appreciate the close contact, but this time only a dull throb tried to distract him. He felt blissfully warm beside Aya and had to forcefully stamp out a sigh of content. He instinctively rested his head on the strong shoulder and closed his eyes to forever engrave the moment into his memories. Aya wasn't the cold, unfeeling person he projected himself as. Aya cared enough for his teammates to help even when the aid was unvoiced such as now. Aya's body was firm and infinitely warm, he also smelled of cigarettes, alcohol and… musky cologne?

Aya did not wear cologne.

Ken was abruptly brought out of his daze. They reached the top of the stairs and Aya had carefully extracted Ken from him, he gave him a curt nod and left for his own room down the quiet hall. The brunette stood unmoving as his brain anxiously scrambled for a reasonable conclusion to this sudden revelation. Aya rarely smoked, rarely drank, and has never worn cologne before, yet tonight after his mysterious departure, he returned home in the middle of the night smelling of all three. And this meant?

This meant-

He could have felt the need, hence the cigarettes.

He could have wanted to relax, hence the alcohol.

Then what of the cologne?

Considering the circumstances, it was unlikely Aya decided to start the habit. He could have been dancing. At a bar. That would explain all three. But he didn't have a trace of sweat on him he seemed freshly showered. It was as if… what they expected of the local blond playboy.

Keen to unravel the puzzle Ken stayed up late awaiting the redhead's return the scant few times he left their living quarters mysteriously at night. Each time he invented an excuse to ease suspicion; he couldn't sleep, he wanted a drink of water, there was a live soccer game on TV from around the globe, he fell asleep on the couch… Never did Ken reveal his true intentions,

Because I care about you.

It went on far after his leg was fully healed, anything to see when Aya was going to come back and always deathly afraid of the possibility where he wasn't alone. To Ken's relief, Aya never brought a soul back with him. The brunette could deduce from the erratic patterns, Aya was not deeply involved with any one person in particular. The occurrences were few and far between, the times when Ken could approach him close enough, he could tell the scents lingering on Aya's clothing were different. He was almost glad it was different cologne every time, almost.

At the very least it meant he still had a chance, no matter how miniscule. On the other hand it wasn't his business no matter how much he wanted it to be.

He knew of Aya's sexual practices and by no means did it lessen his feelings or respect towards the stoic man. Aya was his own man. Youji was far more obvious in his flings and Ken was okay with it. He couldn't think it wrong to do so, even going so far as to think it very reasonable, all guys do it, Youji does it all the time, except that when it's Aya it hurts. Not once did he think any less of either man. Nor did he confront Aya about the issue. It wasn't his business after all.

Even though, somewhere in him secretly wished it could have been him. If Aya ever asked him to, he would surrender his body, not because a physical relationship was what he was longing for, instead it would be a token of what he was willing to offer, his heart and soul along with his everything. Ken was eternally hopeful that by pleasing Aya he would one day find a place in his heart, even if it were small.

And so he submitted himself.

Last night had been painful in more ways than the obvious. It hadn't been what he had expected, surrendering his body wasn't as detached as he initially accepted it to be. No matter how much Ken tried to restrain his affection and tell himself sex was just sex, he failed to convince himself. It hurt to know he was like the other unnamed scents lingering around Aya. Ken didn't want that, but reluctantly resigned his present fate to such. He harboured no bad feelings towards what Aya did last night, if he was unwillingly he would have made that known. He was a grown man and he'd act like one. Sore ass or no sore ass.

"Ken-kun! Are you listening to me?"

Oh right, Omi had burst into his room first thing in the morning. "Uh, not really, can you repeat that?"

"Manx-san is here, we have an emergency mission, get up!"

"Now?"

"Yes, it's a direct follow up to the case Aya-kun and you were on yesterday."

"Oh…"

Omi huffed in frustration, "Can you wake up Aya-kun please? I have to hurry back to the basement. Thanks, see you in five minutes." With that, the blonde quickly retreated out of the messy room nimbly avoiding various land mines.

Five minutes?! Shit! Ken manoeuvred out of bed as quickly as his condition allowed, brushed his teeth, took a leak and bounded off to their leader's room. He froze with sudden dread, what should he say to him, how should he act? Surely the dynamics would have changed somehow. He brushed his hesitation aside, they only had a few moments left and he couldn't be selfish and avoid confrontation. For better or worse he lowered his fist to knock uncertainly on the wooden door. After a slight pause, Aya's muffled voice replied.

"Aya…" Ken's voice was small, almost quivering as he gulped down his nervousness. "Omi called me to wake you up, Manx is here for a follow up mission of… last night." The door opened and the brunette found himself unable to look Aya in the eye, he quickly cast his head down to stare at his feet. As Aya brushed past him he grabbed onto his arm, uncertain of what to say yet not wanting to let go, "Aya last night-"

"Forget about it."

Ken snapped his head up to plead into amethyst jewels desperately searching for an answer. The returning gaze was blank, void of signs of deception. Ken wished he were only joking. No. No he wasn't, there was no affection bestowed upon him, and those jewels were as they always were, emotionless. Ken's frame visibly shook from this heart wrenching realization. That was what he was, less than a one-night stand, just some nameless, faded scent.

He choked back a sob feeling utterly pathetic. What did he expect? Who was he to deserve Aya? Ken could have, would have had to accept nothing in return, he wouldn't force a relationship between them, but to deny what happened, to deny his very memories made his blood boil. How could Aya even ask Ken to forget? At least his memories were his to have, Aya had no right to take those as well! Ken felt his confusion and hurt overwhelmed by a tidal wave of rage and stomped towards the redhead who turned his back on him. Too weak and still aching to inflict much damage, he did the next best think his abused body allowed; Ken yanked Aya to face him and bitch slapped him, hard.

The loud and sudden smack echoed through the hall before giving way to tangible silence. Wide purple eyes stared back in astonishment. Did Ken just slap him? He had never been slapped before. He's been punched, kicked, shoved, hurled, slashed, shot, even bitten… never slapped.

Ken clenched his hands into tight fists while trembling with barely contained hurt and rage. His voice was low and dangerous, "You. Selfish. Bastard. How could you pretend nothing happened? And have the balls to tell me to just forget it? Do you THINK… I'd let just anyone have their way with me? I didn't ask you for anything… didn't expect anything from you…" Ken fell silent. "BUT! Not anymore. You will make it up to me one way or another, or I'll… I'll KICK YOUR ASS! ASSHOLE!"

-----

All eyes rested on the brunette as he stormed into the mission room, everyone wondered why the abnormally happy morning person was so obviously cranky, but their questions were drowned out by hectic preparations; Omi was typing madly away with Manx standing close behind, pointing occasionally to some important detail and Youji was seated between the couch and coffee table looking over several documents at once. Ken was glad everyone was too preoccupied to pay him much attention since it gave him the time to cool down. The outburst in the hall was just as surprising to the recipient as it was to Ken, he wouldn't have deemed himself brave/foolish enough to strike Aya's perfect face. What could he honestly ask for as compensation? He knew as much as Aya that it was only an empty threat.

When his anger subsided Ken became acutely aware of the pain emanating from a particular portion of his lower body, his previous movements only feeding the awkward throbbing. It became increasingly difficult to walk properly and he bet he wouldn't want to sit down any time soon. He felt more than heard Aya's entrance and the hairs on the back of his neck started to stand on end in foreboding. He just slapped Aya and screamed in his face. Even being so bold as to threatened him. Aya was not the kind of person to let revenge go unchecked, just look at Takatori… Ken was definitely in some deep shit.

Fortunately or unfortunately, whenever Ken became emotionally stressed, anger seemed to always override everything else and rise to the top. He steeled his nerves and carefully limped away overtaking Aya's usual spot against the far wall. Ken jut out his chin in defiance while sending a convincing glare to the newcomer in a silent challenge. Aya barely bat an eyelash. He strode over to Youji and sat on the couch, incidentally, in Ken's usual spot. Ken narrowed his eyes trying to stare a hole through the back of that no good, childish, jerkfaced jerk-

"Now that everyone's here, let's begin." Manx's loud announcement caught everyone's attention immediately. All eyes riveted to her as she stepped directly up to the front of the room to face them all. "As you all know, Abyssinian and Siberian completed a mission last night to eliminate Carl Souma. Kritiker received the mission report at 01:36 and was on their way to clear out any remaining traces of Souma's empire. It is regrettable to announce Intelligence made yet another crucial error, removing Souma has done little to destroy this organization, there is another, more important figure behind the curtains. We were unaware of this person because a traitor was amongst Intelligence. We believe it was his single-handed interference that has managed to keep the real threat hidden up to this point.

"Even knowing the existence of this person, Kritiker had little information to pinpoint his identity, Bombay was contacted to lend his aid and it was unfortunate Balinese could not be found until little over an hour ago." She paused to send a nasty look at Youji who shrugged innocently. Omi, ever the attentive person had left contact information for just the occasion, Youji on the other hand was serious about the mission-less night and forgot to take his cell phone. He honestly had no clue where he'd be to be able to leave behind an accurate address or phone number. The blond had strut in at 5am only to face a sleep deprived and fuming Manx. "As I was saying, Bombay has been assisting Intelligence for the past few hours and have collected enough clues for the rest of you to join the investigation. I believe Bombay will be more adept in explaining the details."

"From what we've gathered, Carl Souma was only a scapegoat meant to die as an replacement."

"Wait!" Ken interrupted, "are you telling me we killed an innocent person?!"

"No. I can assure you Siberian, while Souma may not be the leader we assumed, he was most surely very high in rank, possibly even second in command." Manx sternly answered.

"That is true Ken-kun. Souma was very much an active member and is far from an innocent bystander, he would have been on the target list regardless." Ken nodded and slouched back against the wall reassured by the reasonable justifications. "Well, after Souma's death, there were visible signs of the organization's weakening, but when closely inspected the legal businesses they used as a surface have merely been shuffled around and their real business appears to be suspiciously hollow. It looks as if the subordinates are fighting for the remaining pieces while several other corporations have already bought them, everything is like well planned chaos. Whoever behind this is very good at keeping themselves hidden.

"We have to take advantage of the situation to strike at the core of the problem. Intelligence is convinced the real target will remain as he is to not draw attention. He is most likely acting no different than he does because he is confident he is no longer under Kritiker's watchful eye. To him, Carl Souma has taken his place."

"Then why all the rush?" Youji drawled, yawning loudly. "He thinks he's a free man it should be easier to nab him."

"The problem lies with our traitor. He and the real target met secretly for a number of weeks to orchestrate the entire ploy. They have yet to meet since Carl Souma's death and that will never happen. The exact time or location is unknown, but we do understand the next deadline is approaching." What went unvoiced by Omi's solemn tone was the iron discipline and final outcome of what betrayal ended in. Death.

"According to their schedule, the next meeting will be within the next three days. In short, we have no more than three days to find out exactly who this man is and dispose of him."

"There's the catcher boys and girls, we don't know who the bloody hell this leecher is! I've been flipping through these files since I've gotten home and they've only narrowed down the list to six little pimps." Youji had been analyzing each suspect's data and he wasn't far from the truth, at least one of them did specialize to serve as a procurer of prostitutes.

"Um, yes, the real target is one of these six." Omi rose from his seat and passed out the files and photos to Aya and Ken.

"Can't we just kill them all?"

"Balinese!"

"Just kidding Manx, relax."

"Though all of these criminals are suspicious, not all of their individual crimes deserve them death. Weiss will help investigate them starting immediately, however, we believe we know where their new headquarters are. If this is indeed the correct location, finding the real target will be much simpler. A pair of you will work undercover and infiltrate it starting tonight until either their headquarters are proven false or until the mission is complete."

On the rare occasions where members of Weiss were drafted for undercover work, Youji always took part. Years of private investigative skills proved to be extremely useful, he had acquired an uncanny sense for detecting lies, small things to which many would deem insignificant were often enough to alert the blond. In addition, Youji's naturally suave and charming demeanour allowed him to act convincingly in just about any situation or role. It was simply what the man was good at.

Knowing this, Ken hastily volunteered. Ken knew he was trying to avoid Aya. But in a sense, he felt it was his responsibility to carry out the more difficult part of the investigation. He thought he should finish what he started by permanently ending whatever terror the real target has brought about. Without the redhead beside him, he could concentrate on the mission and end it faster.

"… Ken-kun, you might want to reconsider. You don't even know what you're going undercover as." Omi managed to utter, getting over the surprisingly quick, almost rash response.

"Don't worry about me."

"If you wish. Bombay will not take part because he is under aged and will be more effective conducting outside research and information relaying. So who will it be, Balinese? Abyssinian?"

"I'm in."

"WHAT?!" Ken shouted, whipping he head up to stare incredulously at the redhead. "You- you never do undercover work! Besides, Youji will-"

"Where and what as, Manx?" Aya said calming, effectively cutting off the appalled brunette. If the choice were down to the three of them, Aya and Youji would probably be the better candidates considering how Ken had difficulty lying let alone pretend to be a different person. Thus, other than the brunette, the remaining parties in the room agreed with their field leader's decision. What was confusing was why both Aya and Ken were so eager to take part.

"Oh, I haven't actually told you what their crimes are have I? My apologies." The female redhead lifted a delicate hand to rub at her temples. Her noticeable fatigue had the members of Weiss worried. Manx hardly ever left out information as crucial as this, but the entire traitor issue and this rush mission has kept her constantly working for two days straight. "Drawbridge is a new, popular and successful establishment. The club is most likely a cover though. Behind the scenes there's drug trafficking and private male entertainment."

"Male *entertainment*?!!" Ken parroted. "You mean undercover as…!"

As if ignoring the brunette's outburst, Manx continued on. "The targets bait young couples with a large amount of money. What caught Kritiker's attention was that frequently these young men would disappear, many of them permanently without a single trace. We have only managed to find the remains of slightly more the half of the believed victims. Every body was badly mutilated, often not whole.

"They seem to only approach couples. The more attached the couple, the higher their price, the more likely both of them go missing. The perpetrators have even been known to send spies to investigate the candidates in order to verify their relationship. Upon delivering their services, the victims are most likely tranquilized before they are killed as we have identified in several bodies, though some other cases indicate death by a severe toxin. For most people, the identified tranquilizer numbs their entire body while retaining consciousness, leaving them awake and aware but utterly helpless to whatever tortures their captive impose, for the luckier few, they pass out."

The occupants of the room sneered silently at the disturbing facts that only fed to their desire to carry out their roles as White Hunters. They could only imagine the terrifying experience the victims went through as they witnessed a madman disembowel their own body in front of their very own eyes possibly accompanied with the person they cared for most. Youji was the first to break the tense silence. "So this Mr. Boss has something again gay lovers. Let's say a pair of us passes the evaluation, how's that going to bring out real target, couldn't other people be taking part in the murders?"

"Before, Souma handpicked the couples and we believed he was the offender because the wounds on each victim were similar to a degree; it is safe to assume one person was directly responsible for the murders. The couple selected will most probably meet the real target, in person."

"What a sick fuck. Anyways, I think it's best if I'm part of this. Why don't you trail the other targets Ken?"

Why did Youji automatically assume he wasn't fit for the job and not Aya instead? He couldn't let such low scum pollute the Earth by his existence anymore nor did Ken want to dignify Aya with thinking he was a quitter. "No. I'm going."

"Ken. What do you know about 'entertaining' other people?"

"I can be e-entertaining. Besides, I'm not going to let this bastard live."

"Don't be stubborn, you'll blow your cover with your stuttering virgin character!"

"I am not!"

"… Ken?"

"I'm going!"

He may have been too preoccupied to pay much attention to his friend's strange behaviour earlier, but now the blond was fully aware something was wrong and it happened sometime after he last saw him last night. The playboy knew Ken was stubborn and as unmovable as a rock at times so he decided he'd relent for the time being. There was no need to do it in front of the whole team, he knew from experience Ken was easier to probe when it was just the two of them anyways. "Fine. You can try the undercover gig after I give you a few pointers and you have MY approval, if not, you stay out of this Drawbridge. Deal?"

"Deal."

"Report back here by 4 so we can start. So we have most of the day to stalk 'em, I got dibs on pimps #1, 2, and 3."

"Ken-kun, for the remainder of the morning and early afternoon, follow pim-… suspect #4 and Aya-kun suspect #5. I will carry on your investigations as well as the remaining person's later on when you two must prepare." Youji looked smugly at them all, glad to see the effects of his good influences. Omi scowled back, flushing slightly from the unintentional slip in front of Manx.

"I'll leave you boys to it, all the fine points are on file in the computer. I have to get back to Intelligence. Good luck."

-----

TBC

Mmmm… Kenken trying to 'entertain' next chapter XD