Weiss Kreuz Fan Fiction ❯ Neutral Territory ❯ Gaining New Perspectives ( Chapter 33 )

Title: Neutral Territory [part 33/?]

Author: Enigma

Written: begun October, 2001

Rating: R

Pairings: (Omi + Nagi) (Yohji + Ken) (Brad + Schu)

Category: Shonen ai/Yaoi Angst Friendship Romance Action Violence. AU-OOC. Giftfic.

Archive: fanfiction.net & mediaminer.org [author: "E-sama the Llama"] plus Wuffie.net [author: "Enigma"]

Warnings: shonen ai/yaoi, angst, masculine friendship in many forms, various levels of romance, action, coarse language, whiffs of citrus but nothing detailed, possibly graphic violence, bloodshed, tiny bits of humor, fluff, and sap; more warnings will be added as necessary. AU-OOC. Giftfic for Rubious.

Spoilers: Aya's sister's condition and a few other small things, nothing major.

Disclaimer: "Weiss Kreuz" is the property of Koyasu Takehito and Project Weiss. All original characters featured herein (including but not limited to: Glocksten, Charon, etc.) are © Enigma, 2003, and are not to be used without permission. This unauthorized work of fanfiction is intended for entertainment only; kindly do not sue me.

Notes: Omi's first trip to the public library results in an unexpected meeting when Nagi saves his life without being aware of the Weiss archer's identity. Can two lonely teens overcome the limits of their dark purpose in life to find friendship and possibly love in the midst of "neutral territory"?

//thoughts//

{{mental speech}}

*****

Sunday morning. The surgical recovery room in Komagome Hospital.

*****

After less than a minute had stretched itself into a small eternity while he pondered the frightening truth about his best friend's medical condition, Nagi sighed unhappily and forced his eyes open once again.

The youngest member of Schwarz peered up at Yohji and Ken with sad curiosity as he admitted, "I've never seen anyone look as bad as Omi does right now and not end up in the morgue. Have you…?" The way his question trailed off was as close to being hopeful as he dared to let himself be, yet in his heart, the mournful boy silently begged them for a new perspective.

Giving the question serious thought instead of simply giving a glib reply that wouldn't help the boy cope much as Aya had done earlier that morning, Ken replied contemplatively, "Truthfully, I've only seen a handful of people that appeared worse than he does now who pulled through just fine." With a slightly sardonic twist of his lips, he then gestured towards his lover and amended pointedly, "But this guy right here was one of them, so I think that pretty much says it all as far as I'm concerned."

Midnight blue eyes widened as Nagi asked in a surprised tone, "Really, Ken-kun?" Unaware that he was automatically mimicking Omi's form of address for the brunette, he added, "What happened? Or would you rather not talk about it, Yohji-kun?"

Chuckling softly and feeling grateful for the distraction that a painful incident from the past could be under the right circumstances, Yohji shrugged lightly and remarked, "Well, Nagi, I'd like to say it happened when I was busy rescuing a sexy idol singer from some nefarious so-and-so, but it didn't." With a scowl that flit across his face briefly, he explained, "A few years ago, back before Weiss was really Weiss since Aya hadn't been dropped into our laps yet, Ken and me went out for a drive one night and got run off the road by some drunk salaryman. [1] To make a long and painful story short, Ken was thrown free unhurt--thank the stars--but my convertible and the other idiot's sedan got all tangled up with me trapped in the middle of it."

The small gasp of shock from the bandaged youth laying nearby earned Nagi a reassuring smile that replaced the scowl before Yohji concluded his story, saying, "Both cars were totaled, the other driver got a one-way ticket to the crematorium, and I ended up pretty well mangled." After a brief, grateful glance at the chocolate-eyed teen beside him, he continued, "But Kenken stuck by me and Omiitchi did the same, so even though I felt like hell and wanted to die a few times after the accident, I hung tough and here I am. End of story."

Crossing his arms over his scrub-clad chest with a snort, Ken remarked acidly, "There was a lot more to it than that, baka, and you know it! You left out the part about being in a coma that left you a semi-amnesiac for a month while you were in a spinal brace, just for starters!"

"Now, now, Kenken," Yohji soothed, offering his partner an apologetic expression and a meaningful glance at the bedridden youth, "I didn't want to go into all the gory details just now. I think that Nagi's got enough to worry over and doesn't need more fuel for whatever nightmares might track him down later, right?"

"Oh, right." Ken looked chagrinned as he turned towards the fifteen year old and said, "Sorry about that, Nagi. Just thinking about the fact that some selfish asshole who'd been drinking thought he'd ignore all the good reasons to the contrary and get behind the wheel of a car gets me a bit pissed off."

"Is that really all there is to it?" Yohji teased lightly. Realizing he could use this topic to begin to address something more pertinent, he added gently, "Or would it be more truthful to say that it pisses you off that if I'd died that night we'd never have gotten together a few years later, hmmm?"

"Yeah, that, too," Ken replied casually. He was about to add a rejoinder about the fact that he had to wait for Yohji to recover from that accident and then get his unsatisfying womanizing out of his system long before the two of them could explore what they shared now. Yet when he saw a certain gleam in twinkling verdant eyes, he fell silent and let his partner lead the conversation in whatever direction he wished to. There were advantages to being with someone as charming and easy to talk to as Yohji was and this was one of them.

While the two men had bantered back and forth lightly about so heavy a subject, Nagi had been perplexed and it wasn't due to the continued interference the medications in his bloodstream was causing. Ever since the fateful meeting on Monday, the Schwarz telekinetic had been comparing the lives of the men of Weiss with that of his own team and he continued to come to frightening realizations that he probably wouldn't have contemplated otherwise.

Visions that Nagi's imagination conjured up for him of Yohji following the auto wreck as well as the briefly mentioned incident when Omi had been stabbed through with a crowbar as if it was a very crude sword terrified him. Guiltily, he realized that he and his own comrades were rarely significantly injured in large part due to their paranormal powers as well as Crawford's precognitive warnings that kept them out of harm's way on a regular basis.

//It never even occurred to me that Omi and his Weiss teammates were as vulnerable to injury as they are, but I guess it makes sense. Yet to hear these two talk about it, this kind of thing happens to them all the time and that's awfully hard to believe or to accept. How can they stand to live that way?//

Unaware of the temporary darkness creeping through Nagi's consciousness, Yohji decided to take the initiative regarding matters of a less visceral nature and inquired, "So, Nagi, is it safe to assume that Omi already told you about Ken and me?"

Pushing away his unhappy thoughts in favor of something far less worrisome, Nagi replied quietly, "Yes, he did. I hope you're not angry with him because of it." His eyes shifted towards the curtain hanging nearby and added with a sigh, "But we never thought you'd even know about it. We thought we could keep our relationship a secret and so we were pretty honest about stuff we probably should've been a little more discrete about."

Scratching his head as he wondered what Nagi was really concerned about, Yohji commented, "No, it's okay that he told you. We keep it to ourselves for the most part--especially around all the fangirls in the shop who would make a scene over it that Hitchcock could be proud of--but since Ken and me hang out in lots of different gay bars as a couple, it's not exactly a deep dark secret by any means." Gazing at the too-slender boy openly, he added a cautious question of his own, "Since it kind of goes without saying that you were hoping for a similar relationship down the road with Omi, can I ask what it was that drew you two together in the first place?"

Flashes of memory not even a week old came to Nagi's mind even as he replied somewhat distractedly, "Well, I was at the library and there was an accident that I saved him from. Then we…" His words trailed off as he noted dissatisfaction in the friendly jade green eyes that were far more comforting than the usually taunting emerald ones he was far more familiar with. Instead of continuing, he shoved aside thoughts of Schuldich and asked with a frown, "But that wasn't what you meant, was it?"

"No, Nagi, it certainly wasn't," Yohji smiled a little hoping to get the same from the boy who hadn't smiled once since they'd arrived. Failing in that effort, he explained, "What I'm curious about is what you two saw in each other that gave you the guts to risk the level of sheer hell you could've been exposing yourselves to by becoming close. And I don't mean the situation as it stands here and now, I mean the kind of crap that could've happened if your bosses found out and ordered you to eliminate 'Bombay' because of it or vice versa."

Predictably, Nagi shuddered as this very real possibility was presented yet instead of expressing his fears, he merely sighed deeply and admitted in an ashamed tone of voice, "Like I said, we thought we could keep it a secret. If we stayed on 'neutral territory' where none of you and none of my own teammates would go, we thought everything would be okay." Daring to look away from Yohji only long enough to see what Ken seemed to be thinking and finding him frowning, he added very quietly, "I guess that was awfully naïve of us, wasn't it?"

"Yes, it was," Yohji said with unexpected gentleness. Before Nagi could reply to that, however, he stated simply, "But you two *are* a couple of kids and you need to cut yourself some slack because of it. Besides, Omi has never had a friend like you before and he was a little giddy about the whole thing, so it's no surprise that he wasn't thinking things all the way through."

The faintest wisp of a smile slipped across Nagi's lips before vanishing once more when he admitted, "I find it hard to believe that someone as incredible as he is hasn't got a lot of friends better than me to spend time with."

Deciding that he'd had enough of being silent, Ken spoke up and asked, "Why do you say that, Nagi? The part about other people being better than you, I mean."

Narrow brown eyebrows so dark that they were almost black drew together as Nagi wrestled with himself for a moment about whether or not to divulge the truth about his sordid past. Even though he felt he was being cowardly, he chose not to reveal it and only responded by saying, "Omi would know what I meant."

Ken snorted softly and replied, "Well, if Omi *would* know and he *still* chose you for a friend, what's the big deal?" Waving a hand in the direction of the unconscious boy so close by, he added firmly, "Look, Nagi, we all have our secrets and I'm not asking you what yours are, but you've got to admit that Omi's a damned fine judge of people. So if he thinks you're good enough to spend time with, you *are*! And that's that." Feeling his point was made, he crossed his arms over his chest and practically dared the startled boy to disagree with him.

Unable to keep from laughing a little, Yohji glanced sidelong at his partner and shook his head before commenting, "Well, Nagi, you've now had a taste of Hidaka Ken in soccer coach-cum-motivational speaker mode, but he's right. Omi chose *you* for a friend and we heard his side of the story when you were only 'Xavier' to us, but I'm still curious about your side of all this."

That fleeting hint of a smile tried to reestablish itself on Nagi's face and stayed a fraction of a second longer than its predecessor had. Then it was gone again as he nervously inquired, "He'd mentioned that he told you a few things about me, but I didn't know what they were. Um, uh…" he stammered for a moment and then just let his slightly hopeful expression say what words apparently couldn't.

The couple shared knowing glances and then it was Ken who took the lead by saying, "Actually, I was the first one to hear about 'Xavier' and that was, um, I think it was on Thursday when we were working together in the flower shop." Warming to the topic, he let his arms relax to rest at his sides as he continued, "Omi was practically floating on air since he was so happy about something, so I bugged him about it until he admitted that he'd met someone special. He said the kid shared a lot of his interests and he went on and on about how terrific he was, too."

Unable to accept this since he'd spent the vast majority of his life being put down and having his low sense of self-worth endorsed at every turn or so he'd thought, Nagi asked, "Are you sure he meant me?"

Giving the boy in the bed a meaningful gaze before rolling his eyes and thereby reminding them all that Ken was still a teenager, too, the response he offered was a classic, "Well, duh!"

For the first time since he'd arrived in the recovery room, a subtle hint of rose warmed Nagi's cheeks and that was all it took to bring the blond into the conversation once more.

"As a matter of fact, we even got him to admit to having a pretty serious crush on 'Xavier', Nagi," Yohji commented as nonchalantly as he could despite the fact that he had a great deal riding on his next remark. "I wonder if his sentiments were returned or not?"

Wide-eyed wonder spread itself across Nagi's features as soon as the word "crush" was uttered and in all honesty, the surprised boy never even heard the important question that Yohji had put to him thereafter. Snippets of conversations the two teens had shared raced behind temporarily sightless midnight eyes as the telekinetic desperately tried to discover for himself if Omi had ever indicated that he wanted more than friendship.

Unfortunately, as he'd expressed to Crawford earlier that very morning, the youngest Schwarz psychic truly didn't know the depth of the affection Omi felt for him. Yes, they'd shared a poignant embrace and a sweet kiss after dinner together on Friday night, but the gentle archer had very clearly stated that Nagi was his "best friend" and hadn't even hinted that he might desire him as a "boyfriend".

The best long-term relationships always started that way, but as inexperienced as he was and with no one to turn to for advice on such things the way that Omi had turned to Ken, Nagi had no way of knowing that.

When an answer to his deliberately loaded question was slow in coming, Yohji scowled and turned to Ken asking without words if he had any idea what was going through the now slightly flushed youth's mind.

Totally lost, Ken shrugged and held his empty hands apart in a gesture intended to express a wish that he could supply the information that they both needed yet he could not.

To the utter shock of both of the men who were trying to begin to understand the somewhat confusing telekinetic, Nagi's expression slowly fell like a soufflé taken from the oven too soon. Then, even as the rosy blush faded away too, he said sadly, "He certainly never told me that he had any romantic feelings towards me. But it doesn't matter. I doubt Omi's going to care as much about me now as he used to when he finds out how much trouble I've caused him." Agonized blue eyes slipped back to the fabric which blocked his view of his wounded friend, but he wisely suppressed the desire to attest again that the current situation was all his fault.

"Now, that's a load of horse manure if ever I heard one," Yohji said quietly and finally dared to move close enough to reach down and rest a warm hand on Nagi's shoulder for a moment to draw his attention. Then he inclined his head towards him and added, "He's not that shallow, Nagi, I promise you that."

"Yohji's right, you know," Ken asserted, then asked pointedly, "If your situations were reversed, would this have made you care less about him? I mean, if you were in that other bed, tubes and wires going in and out of you like a jury-rigged ham radio while he was laying over here worrying himself sick about you, do you think he'd be less important to you afterwards?"

"Of course not!" Nagi exclaimed with the first signs of confidence that he'd displayed throughout their conversation. He flicked his eyes from the brunette to the blond hovering above him and back again before he added less loudly yet no less passionately, "But I'm *not* him. I'm just a friendless fifteen year old loner who would be a total idiot to turn away from someone as wonderful as Omi, so it's not a fair comparison."

Straightening up after giving the slender shoulder beneath his fingers a final, encouraging squeeze, Yohji asked with a partial smile, "Oh? You think he's 'wonderful', do you? I think so, too, but I'd bet it's for very different reasons."

Not realizing he'd finally fallen into the trap Yohji had attempted to spring on him several times already, Nagi shook his head a little and replied, "I don't know you well enough to agree or disagree about that, Yohji-kun. To me Omi is not just 'wonderful' for all the obvious reasons like the facts that he's so kind to everyone and really handsome in a cute way, but he's also the very first person I've ever met that showed me unconditional respect. Because of that, I could trust him like I've never trusted anyone else *ever*! So no matter what happened to me, I'd never stop caring about him."

These weren't the answers Yohji had been fishing for and they surprised him for a moment yet offered him the perfect segue he needed to be able to state, "Then go ahead and *trust* him now to not turn his back on you because of what happened last night. Our Omi is steadfastly loyal if nothing else and he's not going to let adding some new scars to his personal collection make one whit of difference in the long run."

Wearing a soft, affectionate smile, Ken added, "Yohji's right again, Nagi. And he was right about Omi having it bad for you, too. I've gotten to know him really well in the last few years--protecting each other's backs on long surveillance missions can do that to you--and it's safe to say he's never been happier than he has been since you came into his life this week. Granted, you and the rest of Schwarz have been in all our lives in the past when we fought each other, but I think you know what I mean, right?"

Unsuccessfully fighting a sudden urge to yawn since the powerful painkiller the nurse had given him was starting to make itself felt, Nagi wanted to ask if they were absolutely certain, his own doubts and low self-confidence were muddying everything more than the drugs in his system were.

Well aware that the exhausted boy needed to rest again as per the nurse's instructions, Yohji made an executive decision and put an end to their important discussion. "Now, instead of pushing my luck and having Kenken here pronounce me wrong on something, I think we'll get out of your hair for awhile so you can rest, Nagi. Remember what we said and don't lose faith. Sooner or later, Omiitchi's going to wake up again and I'm willing to bet the first person he asks to see is you, so you'd better find a smile between now and then to give him at that point, all right?"

With an effort, Nagi brought a vague shadow of a smile to his lips and promised, "I'll try, Yohji-kun. Thank you both for talking with me." He paused, then added uncertainly, "I, well, I may not be able to accept everything you've told me as easily as you want me to, but I really needed to hear what you said."

Throughout the conversation, Ken had been making mental notes to add to his already strong complaints about the people Nagi worked and apparently lived with, but he didn't let that negativity be reflected in his eyes or his voice as he said, "Anytime, Nagi. Get some sleep and we'll come see you again in a while." A sudden realization made his own smile brighten as he added, "But I just realized, you probably *are* going to be the first of us to see him when Omi wakes up again. You're right next to him already, you know."

Despite the fact that this should've been blindingly obvious to him from the start yet it wasn't since his thoughts were so badly perturbed, Nagi found sufficient cause for happiness in this simple statement that his own smile finally became a real one even if it was a bit shy. Hope lit previously dark eyes as he replied, "I didn't think of it that way, Ken-kun, but you're right. Thanks."

"No problem," Ken assured as another deep yawn took the power of speech away from the telekinetic. With a small jerk of his head towards the door, he said, "C'mon, Yohji. Let's give the kid some peace and quiet."

Offering Nagi a wink of farewell, Yohji turned and held a hand out gallantly inviting Ken to lead the way while he teased, "Do you think they've got any Worcestershire or Tobasco sauce if I get scrambled eggs for breakfast in the cafeteria?"

Rolling his eyes skywards, Ken harrumphed on cue and playfully muttered something about doubting the hospital staff's cooking was as good as his own, so there had better be some reliable condiments available.

Alone once more, Nagi felt the desire to smile fade and his face resumed the forlorn expression it had worn most of the time the two lovers had visited him. Weariness was overcoming his ability to resist it, so he sent out unseen tendrils of force one last time, nudging the curtain aside only long enough for him to gaze anxiously at his friend while hoping Omi's teammates were right about absolutely everything.

*****

Sunday morning. Various locations in Komagome Hospital.

*****

After stopping by the recovery room's front desk and being informed that the lab work the nurse had wanted performed on Nagi would be slightly delayed, Yohji and Ken headed back into the desolate interior corridors of the hospital theoretically en route to the cafeteria. But somehow their feet had other plans and before long they were approaching the hallway that led to the closed door behind which Aya was hopefully getting some of the sleep that his insomnia had denied him for so long.

A pensive quiet had settled over them during their short journey and as often was the case, the two lovers' thoughts were running in parallel. Hence, it was no surprise when Ken asked in a subdued tone, "Did all that stuff we just went through with Nagi remind you of anyone else who has a hard time accepting that people might really care for him and then letting them act on it?"

"If by any chance you mean a certain mulishly stubborn redhead who seems to think he's perfectly fine keeping all of life's joys at arm's length for reasons that are still opaque to me, then, yes," Yohji replied with a sad smirk. "If you mean someone else, I haven't a clue."

Halfheartedly punching his partner in the arm, Ken responded, "You knew damned good and well that I was talking about Aya, Yohji. Don't be a smartass."

Tilting his head while gazing down fondly at the man walking beside him, the blond sighed and said, "Sorry, babe. Just trying to lighten the mood a little."

Shoving a thick thatch of coffee brown hair out of his eyes so he could look up at his lover without impediment, Ken apologized, saying, "No, I'm the one who's sorry, Yohji." With a deep sigh of fatigue and regret, he added, "It's been one helluva stressful morning after a damned bad night and I'm just frayed at the edges enough to snap at you for no reason."

Knowing what they both needed was a place to sleep preferably together and knowing that they wouldn't get it, Yohji commented sagely, "You've got that right, Ken-love." He followed up the rare use of the endearment usually reserved for private moments with a brief, one-armed embrace that brought the smile back to Ken's lips. As he let his arm drop away when the sound of a cart being pushed some distance away reached their ears, he asked, "So, what about our problem child, little Fujimiya-chan? Any ideas on how we might get through to him that he's not as alone as he thinks?"

"Possibly yes, much to my surprise," Ken admitted with a slightly confused grin on his face. Seriousness replaced the mild bafflement as he asked, "Did you catch what it took to get Nagi to come out of his funk long enough to sound like he had a yen's worth of hope left in life when we were talking with him?"

Frowning a little as he considered the question for a moment, Yohji honestly didn't think he had the right solution when he answered uncertainly, "You mean the part with the role reversal stuff? If he was the one all shot to hell instead of Omi and such like?"

Waving this reply away as if it was a vexing insect interrupting a fascinating tennis tournament, Ken said, "No, not *that* part. I meant the part where he said he was nothing but a friendless loner yet when Omi gave him respect he finally found someone he could trust completely. Remember?"

Comprehension fairly glowed in his eyes as Yohji nodded and said, "Yeah, that's right. Aya tends to consider himself a loner, too, even though he really isn't one or he'd never bake you brownies or help out extra in the shop when he doesn't have to. Regardless, maybe respect and trust are the keys for him the same as they are for Nagi?"

"Maybe not *all* of the keys that we need to unlock that frozen prison cell he's trapped his soul in, but I'm willing to bet that they're some of them," Ken stated confidently. "Abyssinian's a pretty complex guy, though, and whatever the full answer turns out to be, it's apt to take a lot of time and effort."

"Baby, if you're willing to give it a shot with me," Yohji replied earnestly, "then I am more than happy to contribute whatever it takes to pull 'Fujimiya Ran' clear of the façades he hides behind as 'Abyssinian' and 'Fujimiya Aya' both. Respect, trust, patience, perseverance, and whatever else it takes, I'm in the game if you are."

Offering the man beside him a nod and that open smile which lit up his face and brought out his irresistible boy-next-door good looks, Ken agreed, "Deal me in, Yohji. I'll gladly meet that ante and if he ups the bids, I'll match that, too."

Chuckling quietly as they came closer to the door to Aya's room, Yohji remarked offhandedly, "Have you ever noticed how quickly we change metaphors when we're tired, Kenken? First prison cells, then false fronts for buildings, now poker?"

Shrugging before placing a finger to his lips signaling for quiet, Ken didn't bother to acknowledge the statement even as he quietly opened the door and peeked in on their sleeping teammate. Unfortunately, Aya had turned away from them to lay facing the wall and they couldn't tell if he was resting peacefully or not.

Creeping into the room silently after easing the door shut once more behind them, the two assassins were able to circumnavigate the bed and they discovered that their friend was indeed lost in a slumber so deep that he wasn't even dreaming. Luckily, the ice packs carefully bound to his right leg had stayed in place and with a shared expression of satisfaction, they were about to exit the room without further ado.

A flashing sliver of sunlight coming between thick drapes caught Yohji's eye, though, and with a slight smile, he reached for Ken's hand and then pulled him over to glance outside with him.

Curious to see how the weather had changed following the miserable sodden night, Ken stood close to the window and smiled as Yohji wrapped his arms around him warmly before looking straight over his head, one of the advantages of their rather pronounced height difference.

Overhead, the early morning sky was an entrancing cerulean, clear of obstructions other than a few fluffy cirrus clouds that skipped across the vault of heaven and which were racing on the winds that had pushed the rains of the night before far across Tokyo Bay. Directly outside the window, a bed of carefully tended, flowering autumnal annuals gleamed brightly as their stems waved back and forth in the breeze, their multicolored blossoms reminding both men of their flowershop and home.

Ken sighed unhappily as he realized he'd need to cancel a soccer practice he'd scheduled for his ten year old players. The beautiful day would've been perfect for it and that would be a rarity in the near future if the harsh winter predicted by the weather service did indeed come to pass.

Mistaking his partner's quiet expression of discontent for something more serious than it was, Yohji pulled Ken closer still, placed a single, warm kiss onto suntanned skin before murmuring almost soundlessly, "don't worry, baby. we'll make it all work out and everything will be alright again someday soon."

Turning his head and offering willing lips instead of a cheek that couldn't offer anything in return, Ken murmured back, "i sure hope you're as right about this as you were about all that other stuff earlier, koi."

After giving Ken the proper kiss that he obviously wanted, Yohji promised, "together, we can do anything, just remember that, ken-love."

"you got it," Ken vowed in return and then he pulled away so they could quietly exit and leave the swordsman to continue to slumber.

As the door softly clicked shut, Aya let out a low sighing murmur of breath and rolled back into place flat on the mattress, scarlet locks scattered across the pillow beneath his head like ribbons of rich cherry purée artfully drizzled upon a puddle of fresh cream. Thanks to his teammates' hushed tones and stealthy movements, his rest had not been disturbed by their presence. Yet somehow he'd sensed he'd not been as alone as he had been for a few minutes and this knowledge seemed to allow him to slide ever so slightly deeper into the healthful sleep his body craved.

While most of the hospital slowly came to life as a new day got underway, for at least five of the souls within its protective confines there would be a marked lack of change during the brightest hours of daylight. Eventually, Yohji and Ken would take turns getting some rest in various out of the way corners of the facility while the other dutifully kept watch over their companions.

By the time sunset painted the sky with a new palette of colors, the situation would be markedly different and those in a position to do so would be grateful for whatever rest had been obtained even as the remainder of the world moved on around them.

*****

To be continued.

Author's Notes:

[1] In case anyone doesn't recognize the term "salaryman" that Yohji uses to describe the drunk driver mentioned in my invented backstory, this is a commonly used nickname for the men who work in the impersonal corporate offices in Japanese cities. This particular demographic has a high level of alcohol use that is basically forced upon them by their work and cultural environments and to cite one as the person responsible for a near tragedy fits the real world as well as Melpomene's strange sense of the dramatic.

[Posting Run Dedication] This evening's long awaited and hopefully much anticipated posting run is hereby dedicated to every last person who has ever shown support for this story regardless of format or the arena in which said support was expressed. This includes all those terrific reviewers at ff.net and MM.org, of course, but it also extends to those of you reading it on-list and posting comments there, plus my friends in LJ-Land, and those who send me their opinions via private email.

This level of unfailing support has given me the strength needed to work for literally hundreds of hours composing, editing, reformatting, and doing everything else to be able to offer you something this huge and draining, so I thank you all. Also, I hope that you will continue to be uplifting as I begin crafting the final 10% or so of the story. They always say the last five percent is the toughest of any job and whoever "they" are were completely correct. It's going to be a challenge to wrap up this labor of love that has gone on for so terribly long, but it ought to be more than worth it in the long run.