Weiss Kreuz Fan Fiction ❯ The Hits Keep Coming ❯ Chapter 9

For my Bly-Bly, and Phoenix the wonder-writer, and everyone else who reviewed, because I love you back.

*********
The swordsman did come back for his weapon. Two hours later, behind Omi carrying a carefully-prepared invalid breakfast with no texture and no taste. Yohji plastered on a grin and didn't comment as the redhead walked straight to the bed without acknowledging him, picked up the sword and left.

“Aya-san let you borrow his katana?” Omi asked, staring at the door as it closed. Then started doing all the fussy things Yohji had wanted last night, before he got a taste of Aya—ahem—Aya's nursing skills.

Yohji was not surprised that was the closest he got to Aya for the next week and a half.

Okay, he was surprised. But he knew he shouldn't have been. Aya had worked so hard—in that “it's really no trouble to be a heartless bastard” way—to maintain the distance between himself and his new teammates, that it shouldn't have surprised Yohji when the redhead went at it even harder.

Aya was slipping, though. And he didn't seem to realize it. Or maybe he just thought Yohji didn't.

He turned the Seven's headlights off, one early morning after Yohji came in very late. Yohji knew that by deductive reasoning. He distinctly remembered—when he woke up hours later—walking into the house with the lights shining on him. But the battery wasn't dead when he went to check, and both Ken and Omi knew never to touch his car.

The next time kitchen chores fell to him, Aya cleaned the coffeepot. Really cleaned it, according to the manufacturer's directions, not just wiping off the outside so it looked good. The first cup Yohji didn't notice, but by the time he was halfway through the second, he was remembering what coffee was supposed to taste like.

When Yohji inevitably overslept and was late for his shift one day, rather than coming upstairs and dumping Yohji out of bed as was his custom, Aya let Ken do it. As Ken pounded on the door and not Yohji, this was preferable. Though Yohji kind of liked seeing Aya standing there in his room, glaring at his naked teammate on the floor—

Okay, not going there. Just—no.

Anyone else would have thought the redhead hated Yohji most of all the team. Would have even thought he was warming up to the others, just not the blonde. Both Ken and Omi did think so, in fact, since the redhead would work an extra hour so the athlete could coach a little longer or Omi could study, but if Yohji took a five-minute cigarette break he tacked it onto the end of his shift. But Yohji saw that Aya was just keeping him around a little longer. The same when he dragged Yohji out of bed on his morning off to provide a sparring partner. It wasn't really that he felt Yohji was “as clumsy as a fangirl with a florist in her sites.”

Yohji, of course, got distracted by a hot sweaty redhead who had the focus of a laser. Aya hadn't meant to beat him up, he was just trying to wake Yohji up.

Every time Ken noticed the bruises he asked what Balinese had done to Abyssinian, that the lattter often chose to sharpen his sword in the living room with frequent meaningful glances at the former pretending to watch TV.

Omi simply repeated his offer to get Yohji kendo lessons so he could learn to better defend himself against a swordsman.

Yohji just shook his head and grinned. He knew Aya had realized his icy facade had been damaged, and was reminding himself and Yohji that he was a vicious killer and not to be trifled with.

Being a fairly intelligent man, Yohji resolved to trifle very carefully.

He'd tried telling himself not to trifle at all, since he really, truly, despite what everyone thought, was not fond of pain—but not enough of him was listening. Kudou Yohji could not convince his fingers to accept never touching pearl-smooth skin again, could not persuade his lips—yeah, okay, demanding as they were for another chance at the redhead, he could have managed to ignore fingers and lips. Somehow. It was another part, the part that had been left out of the romp that night, that was really driving him crazy.

So Yohji made his plans and his will and watched for his opportunity. When it came, he pounced on it.

Actually, opportunity, having bad eyesight and/or exceptionally good taste, pounced on Aya. But Yohji was right behind it.