Weiss Kreuz Fan Fiction ❯ Torment ❯ Torment ( One-Shot )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Torment
by babaca


The restless shifting next to him was what had awakened him. Also the fact that he was trapped and helpless to do anything about it.

Yoji was in the midst of a nightmare. A litany of women names he had been forced to betray or kill spilled from his lips, sweat poured off him like sheets of rain. All Aya could do was stare.

Aya knew better than to try and wake Yoji. Nothing got a person injured or killed faster than attempting to wake an assassin trapped inside a nightmare. Normally Aya would go get a glass of water and wait for Yoji to wake on his own. He would offer him the water and waited politely to see if Yoji would tell him what the bad dream was about. Of course Yoji would take the water and never say anything. Or worse, he would make a bad joke to 'lighten' the mood, then bring about meaningless sex designed to exhaust himself back to a dreamless sleep.

This time Aya was trapped though. His long braid was clutched tightly in Yoji's hands like a lifeline. Periodically he would pull forcing Aya's head to turn in a slightly painful angle. He thought this time around he would try to wake him without touching him. Tough to do when all Aya wanted to do was touch him hoping Yoji would be aware enough to accept the comfort rather than fight it.

"Yoji."

Tears were in Yoji's eyes as he muttered apologies to the women he hurt. Women he always wanted to protect.

Aya frowned. He wished Yoji wasn't so soft-hearted when it came to the opposite sex. They could be just as evil and ruthless as men given the right circumstances. They weren't all dainty innocent beings needing protection. Some were, as his thoughts flashed to his sister trying to live a normal life after being in a coma for so long. She was working at the Koneko under the watchful eye of Manx and Momoe these days.

"Yoji."

"Asuka," Yoji mumbled, as he tossed and turned.

Aya grimaced. Asuka was the main source for all the pain. Again something he wished Yoji could let go. If that damned woman wouldn't have kept resurfacing in Yoji's life only to keep dying over and over again, maybe Yoji would be whole. Aya sometimes wished there was a way Yoji could forget she ever existed. Maybe he wouldn't be so tortured in his sleep.

"Yoji."

This must be the worse part of the nightmare, Aya thought as he noticed that Yoji's grip on his braid was even tighter. Aya found his hand hovering near Yoji's face. The desire to wipe away the tears strong. He hesitated for a second before deciding to risk waking Yoji in a more conventional way.

He did wipe away the teardrop escaping from one closed eye. His hand caressed Yoji's cheek more tenderly that he ever did when the man was awake. "Yoji, wake up," Aya said in the calmest voice he could manage. "It's just a dream."

Although he knew it wasn't just a dream. It was the past come to torment the psyche of the sleeper. He slid the hand away from Yoji's cheek to fist lightly in blonde curls. "Yoji, it's a dream, wake up."

Yoji's eyes opened as he broke into a sob.

Aya moved his hand down to Yoji's hands which still tightly held his braid. "Yoji."

Yoji's eyes cleared and he was in the here and now. He didn't understand why his face was wet. He looked at Aya who was staring at him calmly. He looked down to his hands where Aya was holding them and saw them clutching the thick rope of dusty red hair. "Aya," he said as he tried to let go of the braid, noticing his hands were cramped from the tight grasp he had on it.

Aya took the cramped hands and tried to massage them. "Would you like some water? I can get you some," he said falling back to their usual ritual.

Yoji pulled away from Aya, embarrassed. "I can get it myself."

As Yoji tried to turn away to get out of bed, Aya reached for him without thought. He pulled the trembling back to his chest, holding on to Yoji tightly.

"Aya, don't," Yoji said in a tight voice.

"It's okay, Yoji." Aya replied.

Yoji turned in Aya's embrace and hugged Aya. "I'm sorry," he said in a small voice before the tears fell in earnest. A dam broken.

Aya held him tighter, stroking his hair, rubbing his back. "It's okay," he repeated. He was sorry as well. Sorry that he couldn't stop the hurt. Sorry that Kritiker insisted they still had to kill, despite the glorified 'detective' work they did to achieve it. Sorry that he couldn't make the sadness go way.

Yoji's tears had stopped. He was asleep again, his head on Aya's shoulder and the braid firmly held in his hand. Aya smiled down at the sight before falling back to sleep, hoping the nightmares were done for Yoji tonight.

Owari