Weiss Kreuz Fan Fiction ❯ Neutral Territory ❯ Pleasant Hours Precede a Crisis ( Chapter 12 )

Title: Neutral Territory [part 12/?]

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}}

*****

Wednesday early evening. The Koneko no Sumu Ie.

*****

Wondering just how angry with him Aya really was, Omi parked his motorcycle behind the flower shop and rushed in through the back entrance, scooping up his buttercup yellow apron and pulling it on in time to be greeted by a flood of excited young girls.

"Omi-kun is here!" A delighted soprano called out.

"Omi, help me find something nice to take to my aunt!" Another cheerful girl exclaimed, "She just had a baby!"

"Over here, Omi-kun!" A bouncy brunette called hopefully, "Please, I want your advice on buying a plant for my bedroom window!"

Laughing and smiling, the boy answered them all, "Hi, everyone! I'll be glad to help you, just give me a chance to let Aya-kun know that I'm here!"

Sets of both violet and jade eyes had already fallen on him, though, and Omi could practically feel the relief flowing off of the two older florists as Yohji remarked dryly to Aya, "'His Royal Genkiness' has arrived. Finally." He chuckled and added, "I think we can survive another couple of hours after all."

"Hn," the slightly shorter man snorted softly, far more at ease than he'd admit openly.

"Well then," the elder of the two stretched his long arms above his head and remarked, "I think I'll go catch a smoke out back."

"Oh no you won't!" Aya growled, grabbing Yohji by the back of his distracting, abdomen-baring midriff shirt. "You didn't get here until almost 2:00 and I've been here all damned day! I need a cup of tea before I kill one of these screaming girls! Stay put! You can indulge your nicotine addiction later!"

"Alright, already!" Yohji chuckled and turned back to face his teammate, smiling as he added, "Go on, get some tea and relax, Aya. Omi and I can handle these noisy females for awhile. Just drop back in at least a half-hour before we close to help get rid of the stragglers, okay?"

Aya cocked his head in disbelief and then narrowed his icy amethyst eyes, asking suspiciously, "What do *you* get out of the deal, Kudou, if I do take a longer break? You don't have a philanthropic bone in your body, so don't expect me to think you're doing this out of the goodness of your heart."

Yohji dramatically clutched his hands to his chest and moaned, "You wound me, sir! You doubt my motives and question my virtue! Verily, thou dost me wrong!"

"Ugh," the redhead groaned, pulling off his light green apron and smoothing the front of his favorite orange turtleneck as he answered, "Never mind. I'd rather not hear any more abuse of the Bard. I'll be back in a few minutes. Tell Omi if he asks."

Snickering at Aya's comment, Yohji nodded and waved the man off towards the back of the shop then waded in among Omi's throng of schoolgirls calling out, "Any ladies over eighteen in here that require my assistance?"

There was, of course, no one over sixteen amongst the crowd other than a business man who needed a quick dozen roses to apologize for some unspecified slight his wife had suffered, and Yohji found himself pleasantly occupied with gathering the stock needed for the arrangements for the shrine luncheon.

From time to time, he'd glance over at Omi, but the boy seemed even happier than usual, totally tolerant of the silly questions the fangirls threw at him, bustling back and forth selling them small posies and the occasional potted plant for the ones who wanted something "different". Aya returned within a half-hour, slightly less gruff thanks to the soothing effects of green tea and he replaced Yohji at the workbench, quickly designing the first of the bouquets and making the prototype for all of the others to be assembled during the evening.

*****

Wednesday evening. The flower shop.

*****

At almost 7:30pm, Yohji strode to the front of the shop, rolled down the steel gate, and announced to the other two florists present, "Gentlemen, we are now closed. Congratulations on surviving another hectic day here at the Koneko no Sumu Ie!"

"Bravo!" Omi cheered even as he walked over to examine the arrangement Aya had created but before he could ask about why it had no red flowers in it, there was a loud rapping on the steel gate.

"Oi! Aya! Yohji! Let me in!" Ken's voice drifted to them from where he apparently stood on the front sidewalk. "I've got hot food and don't want to walk all the way back to the alley if you guys are still in there!"

"Ken-kun!" the youngest chirped as he rushed to open the gate, smiling brightly and taking one of the bags from his friend's arms. "Oh! This smells delicious! Where'd you pick this up?"

"Hey there, Omi!" Ken greeted, pleased to see the boy after missing him the night before as well as at breakfast since the brown-eyed man had slept a little extra to make up for going dancing on Tuesday night. "Ah, *this*, my friend, is a special meal! Tomo-chan, one of my players on the five to seven year-old team, did really well today and since his mom runs that teriyaki stand I like so much, she set us all up with her house specialty, teriyaki chicken! [1] Man, I gotta tell you, that lady *knows* what I like! Mine has extra veggies in it!"

"Sugoi!" The smallest member beamed and then turned to ask, "Aya-kun? Do you want me to work on the flower arrangements first or eat?"

The willowy redhead frowned slightly and shrugged as if he didn't care like usual and answered with a question of his own, "Aren't you hungry, Omi? I didn't let you even make it into the kitchen after you got in from school or anything."

"Oh, I'm fine," Omi smiled back, the same wistful look in his cerulean eyes as he commented, "I grabbed a snack at the park."

"Hmph!" Yohji snorted in mock-irritation, "A growing boy needs more to eat than just 'snacks' all the time, Omiitchi! Let's get you and all the lovely food Kenken has brought us inside and chow down before it gets cold!"

Ken snickered at his lover's humorous attempts at sounding paternal, then his stomach growled noisily and he laughed, "It sounds like a good idea to me, too! I'm starved! I think it's harder to coach little kids who play soccer than it was to be a J-league goalkeeper!" Smirking, he elbowed past the others, gathered up Omi and the rest of their teriyaki dinner, and headed into the kitchen, leaving Yohji to reclose the steel gate and Aya to turn off the lights.

There would be plenty of time to make the floral arrangements later. When four young men are hungry and there's hot food readily available, it's usually a good idea not to come between the diners and their dinner.

*****

Wednesday late evening. First the flower shop's kitchen and then the basement.

*****

Ken sat back from the dining table totally full and comfortable, pleased with his soccer teams' performances when his mind drifted to more serious matters. Leaning forward and placing his chin on one hand, he asked, "So, Omi, what have you got for us so far on Glocksten and Charon? Anything we can base a strike on yet?"

The youngest member of Weiss shook his head and apologized, "I'm afraid not, Ken-kun. But I haven't had a chance to check my email for messages or to do a diagnostic on my searches since before I left for school this morning. I'll work on them tonight, though, just as soon as I get those arrangements done for that luncheon thing."

Aya frowned unhappily since he knew he might regret what he was about to say, but he knew that he had to put the objectives of Kritiker above his own personal preferences. There was also the matter of assisting Yohji to obtain the revenge he wanted so desperately, a desire Aya knew only too well. Ultimately, however, simply eliminating another foul organization that specialized in child abuse on an inhuman level would be more than worth giving up a long soak in a hot bath and catching up on some light reading. Tolstoi could wait.

Crossing his arms over his chest in a further show of his annoyance, the scarlet-haired man sighed loudly then stated as emotionlessly as he could, "Don't worry about the flowers, Omi. I'll take care of them if it'll give you more time to work on tracking down those bastards."

"Really, Aya-kun? Are you sure?" The young blond wasn't willing to accept such an offer too easily. He knew he'd angered the swordsman earlier in the day by being late to take over Ken's spot at the shop and had assumed he'd be making up for it all evening before he even got a chance to get to work on the case.

"Yes, I'm sure," Aya sighed again, then added, "I just want to get the mission taken care of before Glocksten gets a chance to move his operations elsewhere. Do you have all the data you needed for tonight's search?"

"Yes, I think so," Omi nodded grimly, then recalled that he hadn't gotten a chance to figure out what to do with the scrap of data he'd tried to discard when they'd first received the assignment.

Since what was written on it seemed so utterly useless yet he knew he needed to figure it out, Omi had left it in his jeans pocket hoping that inspiration would strike him while he went through his day and it might help him solve the puzzle. Reaching into his pocket to retrieve it, he instead pulled out the piece of paper with Nagi's email address on it. He smiled to himself as he thought of the boy with eyes that sparkled like lapis lazuli and hair the color of toasted walnuts.

Getting his mind back on the search, Omi suddenly remembered that the paper he wanted was in his jacket and planned to get it before heading to the basement. With a smile, he said, "Thanks again for bringing home dinner, Ken-kun! Please tell your player's mom that it was really good!"

"Sure thing!" Ken smiled in return. "Good luck on those searches, Omi. We *all* want to see those guys taken out of the picture as soon as possible."

"I'll do my best!" Omi promised, leaving the room to grab his denim jacket on his way to the basement. As he waited for the computer to boot up, he discovered that the scrap of paper that he needed was missing from his pocket. Using a trick that had never failed him in the past, he put the jacket back on, allowing his senses to be stimulated by the feel and the smell of it and thereby helping him to remember what he'd done while wearing it.

"Let's see," the young blond thought aloud softly, "school was pretty much the same as always, um, other than the way that Masami and Natsume gave me grief, that is." He felt a slight warmth flow into his cheeks as he blushed while recalling the teasing he'd received from his surprisingly observant classmates.

Forcing his mind back on task, he closed his eyes and inhaled deeply, using his sense of smell to jog his memory. Realizing the faint yet masculine scent on the fabric was from when Nagi had lain upon it in the grass, he continued, "Then I went to the park to meet Nagi-kun."

The flush on his face darkened as he imagined how beautiful Nagi had looked when they'd been together by the lake. Sunlight kissing his friend's alabaster skin and adding much needed color and warmth to the telekinetic's already attractive face. "Hmm, what all did we do today? We ate ice cream, talked a lot, watched the clouds, talked some more, then Aya-kun called and ruined everything, what a jerk."

The frown that had formed on Omi's face at the memory of his friend's phone call surprised the young archer and he pondered, "Why did I put it that way? It was my own fault that I forgot that I promised to cover for Ken-kun. It's not Aya-kun's fault that I'm scatterbrained at times. Then again, we *were* having such a nice afternoon. Then what? Oh, right, we exchanged email addresses and… Oh shit!" The memory of pulling out what had seemed like a useless scrap of paper to write the address on presented itself to the blond and everything came together at once.

Slapping his forehead in annoyance with himself, Omi commented unhappily, "*That's* what that slip of paper was that I wrote mine on! Damn it! I gave it to Nagi and I never did figure out what the hell it meant! SHIT!! *Now* what'll I do? I might've needed that info, but I can't very well tell Aya-kun I just gave some of the data from Kritiker to a member of Schwarz! He'd *kill* me!"

A despondent groan left Omi's throat as he collapsed into the chair in front of the computer and his head sank into his hands as he added mournfully, "And I'd deserve it. What a fool I am to let this all get so messed up! I mean, this isn't anyone's fault but my own and if it keeps us from completing this mission, I might as well just tell the others everything and let them get rid of me before I destroy anything else important."

Feeling utterly defeated, the youngest member of Weiss sighed sorrowfully and stared at the screensaver in front of him. The ornate snow white crucifix that filled the screen seemed to indict him all the more by being superimposed on a field of perfect blackness. It seemed as if the darkness behind it wanted to swallow up the purity of the cross and somewhere at the bottom of Omi's soul, he wondered if that was what was happening to him.

The youngest member of Schwarz now filled Bombay's heart and his thoughts.

Was Omi losing his own identity as one who defended the goals of good in favor of pursuing a personal relationship with someone who might be seen to embody the goals of evil? Was his own tarnished soul losing its only saving grace by crying out to one of the fallen? Or was he simply a young man in love with another even younger man and they were both trapped into lifestyles so far past that which was normal that judgements like these were not only irrelevant but even dangerous?

At that moment, alone in the basement of the flower shop, faced with what seemed like a horrible failure on his part, Omi had lost his sense of proportion and it was simply too overwhelming to grasp logically. Hence, he merely sat there, temporarily frozen and the world continued to move on without him.

*****

To be continued.

Author's Notes:

[1] Please indulge a minor reference from a character to the talented man who gives him a voice. In one of the perfectly adorable "Interviews with Weiss" on the Media-Blasters DVDs, Ken's prolific seiyuu Seki Tomokazu is addressed as "Tomo" by none other than Yohji's seiyuu the incomparable Miki Shinichiro {notes pointedly that these two live action bishounen share shows more often than not and isn't that terribly convenient for all the Yohji/Ken, Van/Allen, etc. lovers out there} and this just came to mind as a result.