Weiss Kreuz Fan Fiction ❯ Shades of Grey ❯ Chapter 13

Part Thirteen

"When we get back today can I come in and visit for a bit before you take me home?"

Aya and Ran were lying on the grass outside Villa White. The car was packed and they were ready to leave, but neither felt like leaving just yet.

They had time, Ran reasoned. It wasn't even noon yet. It would only take two hours to drive back to the city. Aya could visit with the others all day before he had to take her home. It allowed him to spend a little more time with her, too. And she genuinely enjoyed spending time with his teammates.

"Sure. They love it when you come to visit."

Aya rolled over, propping herself up on one elbow and staring at her brother. "So how come you don't let me come over more often?" She glared challengingly at her brother.

"I don't think it's appropriate for you to spend so much time around older men." Ran didn't open his eyes. "That's why you're living at an all-girls' boarding school instead of with us."

"Oh get over it, Ran. Only you and Yoji-kun are older than me, Ken-kun's my age and Omi's younger than I am."

Ran sighed. "Okay, Aya, you can come over more often." He opened his eyes in time to see a bright smile grace Aya's face. He could never win arguments with her, partly because she never gave in, and partly because he was just happy she was aware enough to argue.

Aya propelled herself gracefully upwards, hugging her knees to her chest. "Arigato, niichan. We should probably get going." She squinted up at the sun and rose to her feet, holding out a hand to her brother. Ran let her pull him to his feet and they sauntered to the car.

"It was a lovely weekend, Ran," Aya said as he unlocked the drivers' side door. "Did you have a good time?"

Ran smiled at her. "I did. I always do with you. It was a nice break." He slid into the car and popped the power locks. "Let's go."

"Hai."

By the time Omi and Nagi emerged from Omi's room on Sunday the apartment was empty and quiet.

"Yoji and Ken are on all day so we can spend as much time together as possible," Omi explained, and then grimaced. "I'll be covering shifts for the next month when they decide they want to go somewhere." He flopped onto the couch. Nagi stretched out with his head on Omi's lap.

"Are you hungry?" Omi asked him, idly playing with his hair.

"Not yet," Nagi answered. "What time is it?"

Omi checked his watch. "Just after one-thirty."

Nagi laughed. "We must have spent more time in the shower than I thought," he said. "No wonder the water got cold so quickly."

They were quiet for a few minutes, just enjoying being alone together.

"I wish you didn't have to go," Omi said abruptly.

"I know, koi. Me too. But maybe I can talk to Crawford and see if it's okay for you to come to our safe house, as long as you don't tell Fujimiya where it is."

"As if I would do that and let him come and kill you all. Well, maybe just Schuldich."

Nagi sat bolt upright.

"K'so. I forgot to tell Yoji!"

"Huh? Tell Yoji what?" Omi asked, confused.

Nagi got up and slipped on his shoes, looking over his shoulder at Omi. "They're in the shop, right?"

Omi nodded, coming to the door and putting on his own shoes. "But what's the hurry?"

Nagi didn't answer, just pulled open the door and went down the stairs. Omi followed him, wondering what was going on.

When they opened the door to the Koneko the place was empty of customers and Yoji and Ken were seated at the table, working in companionable silence. They looked up as Nagi and Omi came in.

"Oh good, you're up," Ken said hurriedly. "Can you give us a hand with this order? Someone came in this morning with a rush job for tomorrow night. It's a big order."

"Yeah, sure. Do we need to order anything in or do we have enough stuff on hand?" Omi asked, sitting down and looking over the order.

"We'll have to be creative but we don't have time to order anything in," Yoji said. "Can you just keep an eye out for customers, Nagi? Otherwise we'll have to close up."

"Sure, Yoji. But I have to ask you something first."

Yoji looked up enquiringly.

"Do you know where our safe house is?"

Yoji looked a little uncomfortable. "Yeah, why?"

"Schu told me to ask you to meet him in the park at the corner by the house at ten tonight."

All activity around the table stilled.

"Nani?" Ken spluttered. He turned to look at Yoji. "What does he want to meet you for?"

Yoji looked thoroughly nonplussed. "I have no idea."

"You're not going to go, are you?" Ken asked.

"I don't think you need to worry about anything," Nagi put in. "Schu doesn't want to hurt you. He wants you back."

"Why?" Yoji was baffled.

Nagi shrugged. "He likes you a lot more than even he knows. He's just used to being a jerk."

Omi had remained silent throughout this exchange, but he spoke up now. "Maybe you should go, Yoji-kun," he said thoughtfully. When they all turned to stare at him he explained. "Just to let him know that you mean it. That you really aren't going back to him."

Yoji nodded slowly. "Maybe I will."

Ken scowled. "If you're going to go see him I'm going with you. And I'm bringing my bugnuks."

Yoji started to say something but one look at Ken's determined face changed his mind. He contented himself with a nod.

They subsided into an uneasy silence, working on the next day's order. Nagi sat on the stool behind the cash and watched them. The door opened and he turned to greet the customer. The girl who bounced into the shop looked familiar, and as he sat trying to place where he'd seen her before the door opened again and Fujimiya Aya walked in.

Nagi took one look at Aya's face and called nervously over his shoulder, "Omi? Ken? Yoji? Could you come here for a second?"

"What's up, Na-" Ken froze when he saw the look on Aya's face. Curious at Ken's immobility, Yoji and Omi stood up to see what had caught him off-guard.

"Aya," Omi squeaked.

Yoji recovered first. Smoothly he drew Nagi behind him, saying with remarkable composure, "We didn't expect you home so soon."

Omi moved a little closer to Nagi, partially shielding the younger boy with his body. The fury in Aya's eyes was frightening. He grabbed hold of Nagi's hand and squeezed gently, trying to reassure the boy.

Aya-chan didn't know why the room was suddenly so tense, but she decided to do something about it. Adopting her best silly-girl voice she called out, "Omi-kun, is that your boyfriend? Kawaii! I heard he was good-looking but I didn't know he was this kawaii."

Nagi flinched when he realised who she was. He hadn't really seen much of her awake. Past was past, he reminded himself. Looking at Aya's expression he wasn't sure that applied to Weiss' leader when it came to his little sister.

"Gomen, Aya-chan, I haven't introduced you yet. This is Naoe Nagi. Nagi, this is Fujimiya Aya." Omi tore his eyes away from Aya's face and forced a smile.

Nagi smiled nervously at Aya-chan, keeping one eye on her brother. Aya still looked ready to kill him.

Aya-chan came up and linked her arms through Nagi and Omi's. "Well now that we've met let's go upstairs and get acquainted." She propelled the two grateful boys out of the room. Omi felt a little guilty at leaving Ken and Yoji to try to explain but he wasn't wasting any opportunity to get out of Aya's sight right now. They went up the stairs with some alacrity.

Alone in the shop, Ken exchanged a glance with Yoji and went to flip the store sign to `closed' and to pull down the shutters.

"Tell me what's going on," Aya said, biting out the words between clenched teeth. His face was blank, but his eyes were like violet stones.

Yoji folded his arms and leaned his hip negligently against the table. "You've just met Omi's new boyfriend," he said casually, his eyes locked on Aya's.

"It's betrayal. Kritiker will eliminate them both."

"Show me the commandment that says `Thou shalt not fuck the enemy' and I might agree with you," Yoji replied somewhat flippantly.

"When Crawford finds out…"

"Crawford knows," Ken said, coming up behind Aya, his body held loosely, ready for a fight. "He's not doing anything about it."

Aya eyed both men. "This is why you wanted me out of the way this weekend." Neither of his teammates bothered to deny it. "How could you have condoned this?"

Yoji shrugged. "Not everyone lives in the past the way you do, Aya. And neither Ken nor I were directly affected by Schwartz. We just fought them."

"You should have put an end to it before now," Aya said sharply. "I'm going to do that now." He moved to enter the apartment and Ken grabbed his arm. Aya looked down at Ken's strong fingers encircling his arm and glared at the other man.

Ken flinched at the rage in Aya's eyes but didn't let go. "You have no right to end anything, Aya. Omi's personal life has no bearing on Weiss."

"It does when he's dating the enemy," Aya retorted.

"They're not really our enemies anymore, Aya. Just yours. Besides, he's not the first one of us to be involved with one of them." At Aya's incredulous glare Ken hastily added, "And I'm not going to tell you who, either. There's no point."

"And since that affair didn't affect how Weiss worked either, there's no reason to believe that this will." Yoji uncrossed his arms and took a step forward. "Don't interfere, Aya."

"They almost killed my sister."

"But they failed, and she woke up. Give it up, Aya. Neither Omi nor Nagi will. And if you kill Nagi…" Yoji shrugged eloquently. "Who knows what Omi will do? Omi's lost everything, Aya. He's lost more than you have. Schwartz killed Ouka. His entire family is dead. Let him have something. If he can forgive them for Ouka's death, how can you not let him be happy? It's just petty. Revenge is a cold bedfellow, Aya. Be careful it doesn't become all you'll ever have." Yoji walked to the door leading to their apartment. "You coming, Ken?"

"Hai." Ken let go of Aya's arm and moved to stand with Yoji. "You'll have to go through me to get to him, Aya. Are you willing to kill me too? What will you tell Aya-chan? Get used to the idea, Aya. It's not going away just because you want it to. When Omi brings Nagi here you don't have to like it, but you have to live with it." He went through the door, hearing Yoji close it behind them, leaving Aya alone in the shop with his anger.

All things considered, it hadn't gone as badly as it could have, Yoji thought as he walked towards the park with Ken Aya had come upstairs to find out that Aya-chan knew exactly who Nagi was, and that she'd already absolved him of blame. Pretty gutsy of Nagi to tell her, Yoji thought. He wouldn't have admitted it. He wouldn't have forgiven it, either. But she and Nagi were already fast friends and a little thing like trying to resurrect an ancient demon in her body was not going to deter Aya-chan. She'd even managed to thaw her brother a bit when he'd finally come upstairs, something Yoji would have considered impossible. The end result was that Nagi could come to their place without the threat of death hanging over him. Aya couldn't kill his little sister's friend. Pretty clever of Aya-chan, Yoji smirked.

The smirk faded as he approached the darkness under the trees. Ken melted away from him and went to watch from a distance in case Yoji needed him. Schu would know he was there of course, but as long as Ken made no move against him he'd leave Ken alone.

A figure detached itself from the shadows and stepped into the clearing Yoji had just entered, leaning against the trunk of an old tree. Yoji's heart sped up. He forced the nerves down and tried to keep his mind empty. "What do you want, Schu?"

"Is that any way to greet an old friend, Yoji?" Schuldich's low voice was mocking. "We were very close once."

"We're not anymore."

"I heard about you and Siberian." Schuldich pushed away from the tree and walked through the moonlit clearing towards Yoji, who backed up until he hit one of the trees on the other side of the clearing. Unfortunately Schuldich kept coming. He stopped less than two feet in front of Yoji. "I don't think you really like him as much as you say you do. I think you're just using him to forget about me."

Yoji laughed. "Then you haven't been paying attention, Schuldich. You were in my head that night at the club. You could see what I was thinking. And it had nothing to do with you."

A flash of anger passed over Schu's face. Yoji began to relax. There was nothing Schu could do to make him come back. He held that thought very clearly in his mind.

Schuldich decided to try a different tack. "It hasn't been that long since then," he purred. "He can't mean that much to you." He raised a hand and stroked it down Yoji's cheek, coming closer. His lips hovered above Yoji's. "He can't mean as much to you as I do." Yoji let Schuldich kiss him, keeping his own lips unresponsive. He prayed that Ken wouldn't interrupt now.

Ken swore as he watched Schuldich kiss Yoji. His hand flexed repeatedly, the bugnuks sliding in and out of their sheaths until he was forcibly restraining himself from running his claws through the arrogant redhead. But he knew the rules. Schuldich hadn't offered violence. Yoji could handle this alone.

Schuldich took a step back, puzzled by Yoji's lack of response. He had been sure that all he had to do was remind Yoji of what he was missing and Yoji would forget all about that insolent brat he was sleeping with. He searched through Yoji's mind and was surprised to find it full of memories of Ken. For the first time he realised he might lose. It made him almost desperate.

"Yoji… I was wrong. I'm sorry I didn't treat you as well as you deserved." The words tried to stick in his throat, but he forced them out. He was starting to panic a little, but forced it back. He tried for calm and persuasive. "It was only when you left that I realised how much you meant to me."

"How much did I mean to you, Schu?" Yoji asked softly.

Schuldich took this as an opening. He leaned against the rough bark, his arm brushing Yoji's. "You meant more to me than even I knew."

Yoji regarded him steadily for a minute. "You still don't get it, do you, Schu? I'm not coming back just because you suddenly realise how you feel." His words were heavily weighted with sarcasm. "You fucked up and I don't want you anymore. I'm happier without you. It's not about you. It's about me. I don't care how you feel." He pushed his lanky form away from the tree and strode off, not looking back.

Schuldich stood frozen in disbelief, watching Yoji walk away. He'd lost. He'd lost. His mind was nearly numb with the shock. Yoji had just walked away, so easily, as if Schuldich meant nothing to him.

I don't mean anything to him, Schuldich realised dully. He couldn't even summon up the familiar comforting warmth of anger that had always sustained him in the past. It was as if Yoji's words had hollowed him, leaving him an empty husk of human flesh. Shivering, Schuldich slid down the trunk of the tree, settling to the grassy earth with a bump. What was he supposed to do now? He rested his forehead on his bent knees, blanking his mind.

He didn't know how long he sat there, hugging himself in the warm summer night, trying to drive away the chill that emanated from inside. Finally he uncurled himself and stood up, his muscles protesting any movement. Yoji didn't want him. Fine. He locked away the hurt and resolved to forget about him, to just cut him out of his life the way Yoji had done to him. He lowered his shields a little, listening to the shreds of internal dialogue of the people hiding in the shadows of the trees, hoping to bury his own pain in other people's. He walked out of the park, taking side streets to avoid people out late and wandering aimlessly through the calm night air. His feet slowed when he realised he was on the same street as the Koneko no Sum Ie.

Schuldich stood staring up at the windows above the flower shop. He let his mind drift up to the windows, brushing against the occupants' minds, grimacing when he realised that Yoji and Ken were together. He had almost pulled up his shields completely to ignore the mental noise when another voice, a familiar one, reached out to his mind, broadcasting strongly.

The loneliness, the despair in the thoughts called out to him. He focussed his mind on the voice and followed it to its owner, his eyes widening when he recognized Fujimiya. Poor bastard, Schuldich thought sympathetically, forced to listen to them every night. His lips twisted into a bitter smirk when he realised what exactly the other man was doing in his lonely room night after night with the two of them behind the wall. He could hear the shame and disgust in Aya's thoughts, and behind that, the sadness, the loneliness that had caught his attention before.

Schuldich smiled. This one was ripe for the picking.

~Owari~

That one's for you, Tay-chan!

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