Weiss Kreuz Fan Fiction ❯ What No One Knows... ❯ Breaking Unwanted Bonds ( Chapter 4 )

~Chapter 4~

Barefoot, Aya padded down the stairs to the Koneko, intent on finding his lover. As he opened the door to the shop, two pairs of eyes focused on him.

"Ohayo," Ken called cheerfully. "Did you sleep well?"

The redhead shrugged, replying, "Not really. Is Yohji around?"

"He's out front," Omi quipped. "How do you feel today?"

"About the same. I have some things to do, so I'll see you later." With that, the swordsman made his way to the front of the store before any more questions were asked.

Things had been this way for the past two weeks since he had come back from Schwarz' estate. Both Ken and Omi were very careful what they said around him, so he was forced to endure the same questions day after day. While he knew their intentions were good, it was beginning to get on his nerves.

His wounds - cared for by Yohji - were beginning to heal, and most all of the bruises, love bites, and claw marks had since vanished. His wrists and ankles were still rather sore, as was his abdomen. The malignant `F' mark was recovering quickly, but it looked as though the other gash, the deeper of the two, would leave a scar - despite the playboy's best efforts.

Yohji looked up as the redhead exited the shop. "Oh, Aya," he chimed with a smirk. "Is it time to play doctor now?"

Silently, the swordsman nodded, and the blond followed him back up to the apartment. They all knew the final battle with Schwarz and Estet was quickly approaching, and Aya was determined to be completely healed by then so he could exact bloody revenge on Farfarello - and to a somewhat lesser extent, Nagi. So the playboy was doing his best to see to it that could happen.

Aya was going through the motions as he did every morning, stripping off his shirt and pants so that Yohji could re-bandage his wounds. It seemed to him that lately, the blond's touches were beginning to feel less like a caregiver's and more like the lover he was. While the caresses were more tolerated than before - even welcomed, to an extent - he couldn't quite bring himself to let them lead to anything more.

Today, however, looked to be a bit different. Instead of getting out the familiar bottle of antiseptic and the bandages, the playboy instead reached over and turned on the shower. At the redhead's questioning expression, the blond began removing his own shirt, explaining, "I thought that today I could clean your wounds in the shower. Don't worry; I won't do anything you don't want. When you're ready though, just say the word…."

As he waited for Yohji to take off his pants, the swordsman stated, "I must be driving you crazy."

The playboy looked up, puzzled. "How so?"

"Well, you see me naked every day, but I won't let you touch me - not in the way you want to anyway. That has to be hard on you." They stepped under the hot spray of the shower.

"It is," the blond replied, "but I have faith that one of these days, my patience will pay off, so I can bear it for now." He grabbed the bottle of liquid soap, getting some on his hands and working it into a lather. Aya watched with what appeared to be fascination as Yohji knelt before him, gently rubbing the soap over his wounds with soft, slick fingers.

The redhead tensed as the liquid stung at his lacerations, but let the tender caress continue, curious as to where it would lead. He expected the playboy to try something here. Exactly what, he wasn't sure. He had already decided for himself that intimacy was out of the question, but he hadn't yet drawn the line anywhere else. Aya was certain, though, that the blond would not get far.

Yohji stood then, taking hold of one of the swordsman's hands, and then the other, to clean the wounds there as well. Without thinking, he brought his own hand up, brushing his thumb over his lover's wet lower lip. Unconsciously, the redhead kissed it, and that was invitation enough for the playboy. He moved closer, one hand sliding through the slick, water-darkened scarlet hair as he hesitantly met Aya's lips with his own.

Immediately, the redhead gave in, swept up in the familiar, sweet kiss of the man before him. Yohji was licking at his lips, requesting entrance, and the swordsman granted it, opening his mouth to let their tongues intertwine. The kiss was quickly turning from something soft and tender to something increasingly passionate.

As soon as the blond's hand moved to stroke down the smooth skin of his lover's chest, Aya breathlessly flinched back, turning away. "Yohji, I…I can't…."

Sighing, the playboy grinned faintly and turned off the water. "Sorry," he stated apologetically, "I didn't mean to go so fast. But one of these days, Aya, I'm going to make you remember how good it feels to just let yourself go." He stepped out of the shower and tossed the redhead a towel.

"I'll remember that," Aya replied amusedly as he dried himself off and allowed the blond to bandage his wounds.

~*~

It wasn't until the next week that Aya returned to his job at the Koneko. His injuries were healing nicely, and as long as he didn't do anything extreme, he decided it was all right for him to work. Omi and Ken enthusiastically welcomed him back, though they still seemed concerned for his health. Even though his wounds were getting better, he was still plagued by nightmares every night and always looked tired during the day.

Omi had informed him that while he was gone, Sakura had often stopped by to see him. While he didn't much care for the girl, he didn't want her doing stupid things because she thought she had a chance with him. So when she was kidnapped by Schwarz, he figured it must've had something to do with him.

Although he almost hated to do it, he had to give her credit for helping him see his sister again, though it was only for a day. In all the time since his own kidnapping, he hadn't forgotten about her, and to see her sleeping face somehow made it feel as though a burden had been lifted from his shoulders. The fact that she was taken from him again by Farfarello - the same disgusting man who raped and scarred him - only made him more eager to kill the bastard. As soon as they next met, he would see to it that he did just that.

The day after Aya-chan was kidnapped again, they received blueprints of Estet's base from Kritiker. While Birman urged them to wait for the signal to go, all four boys knew that as soon as they came up with an effective way to infiltrate the building, they would do it. "No sense prolonging the inevitable," as Yohji put it.

On his way to bed that night, Aya decided to stop by the blond's room. He stood outside the door for a moment, uncertain whether he should even bother. Steeling his nerves, he brought his hand up, softly knocking.

"The door's unlocked," the playboy called from inside. Slowly, it opened to reveal a wary-looking redhead. Yohji was actually rather surprised to see him there, but also very curious as to his reason for coming. "Aya, hey! Come in." The swordsman did just that and sat down on the opposite end of the bed from his lover. "What brings you here?"

There was a pause before Aya spoke up, his voice soft in the large room. "I think I've figured it out."

"Figured what out?"

The redhead reached into his back pocket, pulling out two slightly wrinkled photographs. The blond only had to glance at them briefly to realize they were the ones he had taken on the hood of Seven the night before Aya's kidnapping. "I think I know what makes one…better…than the other."

Yohji shifted a bit closer, the slightest hint of a grin playing on his lips. "Well, let's hear it."

The swordsman held up the first photograph - the one of him scowling. "This one," he explained, "doesn't have much…character, I guess. I just look so…unaffected. I don't look angry, but I don't look happy. I'm just…there. There's nothing personal about it at all."

The playboy nodded, adding no comments. "What about the next one?"

Holding up the picture of himself after his passionate moment with the blond, Aya continued, "In this picture, I have more depth, I think. I look more affected by the environment, almost like my eyes are begging you to return to me. There's a strange sort of…contentment or peace about me. There's just something about that that makes it better than the other one."

Slowly, Yohji took the photos, then reached for his lover's hands, grasping them tightly in his own. With a loving smile, he stated, "That's it, Aya. It's because you look *good* when you're happy. I know it might be the easiest thing for you to do to close yourself off, but if you would only be more expressive, more open, there's this whole other side of you that truly wants to be happy."

"But how can I?" the swordsman protested.

The blond smirked playfully. "Well, pretending to be me seemed to help."

"Now is not the time for that, Yohji."

The playboy placed a warm palm against the redhead's cheek, quipping, "Maybe not, but one day, you'll change your mind." Slowly, he leaned forward until his lips were gently brushing his lover's. He drew back until there was a hair's breadth between them, curious to see if Aya would respond.

The swordsman did, clutching Yohji's shirt to pull him back for another soft kiss. They were addictive, these lips, and he couldn't seem to get enough of the warm, sweet taste that was definitively the blond's. It was almost simultaneously that their mouths opened to each other, tongues tangling and sliding against one another.

Yohji pulled the redhead to him, wringing a soft sigh from his lover as he leaned backward, bringing Aya down to lie next to him. Cautiously, so as not to frighten the swordsman, his lips moved to kiss and nuzzle at the long column of pale throat available to him.

The redhead turned onto his back, giving the playboy better access to the juncture of his neck and shoulder that was currently being teasingly nipped at. It seemed to have quite an interesting effect, as he soon found himself moaning and sighing under the ministrations.

"That's it, Aya. Scream some more. I want to hear it," Farfarello's voice taunted in his mind.

Suddenly, Aya's eyes snapped open and he gasped, pushing at the blond's shoulders. "Yohji, no. I can't do this."

Disheartened, the playboy moved away from his lover. "Yes, you *can*, Aya. You just won't let yourself. You seemed to be enjoying yourself until a minute ago. What happened?"

The swordsman turned away, shame clouding his features. "It's just that…when you touch me, I always hear *his* voice, and it just reminds me of how he…what he did to me."

"Then I'll just have to replace the bad memories with good ones," the blond quipped with a loving grin.

The redhead sighed despite his own faint grin. "Not tonight, Yohji." After a long pause, he continued, "Tomorrow's our last battle with Schwarz and Estet. If you - if *we* - make it back alive…I will give you *all* of myself."

"Promise?"

Hesitantly, Aya nodded. "I promise."

"I won't forget that, you know," Yohji remarked. "So come back this time, okay?"

"Don't worry," the swordsman hastened to explain. "I have *no* intention of going through *that* again - *ever*."

The playboy pulled his lover against him, wrapping his arms firmly around the slender waist. "Just in case," he whispered, "we *don't* make it back tomorrow, would you stay with me tonight?"

The answer was no more than a breathy, "Aa," barely heard even in the quiet of the room. Tomorrow would be the day…

~*~

Aya could hardly wait to get his hands - or more correctly, his sword - on Schwarz' madman. Rage and anticipation built inside him all day, making him decidedly more on edge. His promise to Yohji was the farthest thing from his mind as night fell and the four boys began gearing up for their last mission.

However, for the blond, the redhead and his promise were about the only things on his mind. He had to make sure both he and his lover made it back alive - and he would do anything to see that it happened. There was too much in it for him to lose: his friends, his lover, the defeat of their enemy, and the end of these tedious missions.

Their decided plan of attack was that Omi would destroy Estet's arsenal while Ken and Yohji took out the guards. Once they were taken care of, Aya would go after the three main members and get his sister back as well. They knew Schwarz would be there to guard Estet, but experience had taught them that there were no extra precautions they could take to improve their odds of beating the bastards. They would just have to give it their best shot and pray for success.

Inside the target's base was where they parted ways. While they still had to be careful, the guards were clearly no match for the well-trained boys of Weiß. Omi slipped inside the arsenal room with relative ease, surveying the surroundings before him. A myriad of lasers crisscrossed over the floor, but they were nothing a well-placed foot couldn't avoid. The traps were already set, and escaping the room in time was all that was left. It would've been no trouble at all if he hadn't tripped and accidentally triggered the alarms.

Only one more hallway separated Ken and Yohji from their goal - they were *that* close. However, as they felled the last two guards, sirens began to wail and hurried footsteps were heading their way.

"Shit," Ken angrily exclaimed. "Who messed up?"

"Doesn't matter," the playboy answered, breaking into a run. "We have to get to the targets before the guards get to Aya. Come on!" Hastily, they ran through the last corridor, taking down anyone in their way with a flick of the wrist and the flex of an arm.

By the time the four of them were gathered in the main room with the targets, Omi's explosives had gone off, eliminating any weapons and extra guards they may have had. Although that improved their odds, the fact that Estet, like Schwarz, possessed supernatural powers did not.

After a rough-and-tumble battle, Aya and Ken managed to slay two of the three before the last one got away - momentarily. Slowly, the redhead approached the young girl lying motionless and forgotten on the cold cement table. Getting Aya-chan back, though, was only half the battle. However, he soon realized it was not his sister he was consoling, but rather Sakura instead.

Sparing a few words to thank her for her sacrifice, the five of them went on to find the renegade member of Estet, the real Aya-chan, and presumably Schwarz. Admittedly, Yohji was a little jealous of how close Sakura was hanging around his lover, but the fact that *she* wasn't the one the swordsman had promised his body to was enough to set him at ease.

When Aya flung open the doors leading to Schwarz, Farfarello was in the midst of killing the final member of Estet. "I'm here to reclaim my sister," the redhead shouted. "She will no longer be used by the likes of *you*."

"Well, we won't just *give* her back, you know," Schuldich chided with a sneer.

Smirking and drawing his wire, Yohji charged at the telepath. "Then we'll just have to take her back by force."

At that moment, both Omi and Ken seemed to disappear as they paired off with Nagi and Crawford respectively. Sakura, meanwhile, went to go rescue Aya-chan. By then, Farfarello had walked up to the swordsman, teasing, "Oh, I see you want to play with me again, little Aya. How is that brand I gave you? I hope it scarred nicely."

It took all the redhead's willpower to answer the questions before he took to gutting the madman. "Ch'," he spat, "I wouldn't `*play*' with you again to save my life. And that `brand' you gave me," he added with a smirk, "didn't even leave a scar. I am no longer bound to you in any way." Sword forward, he charged.

Across the room, the playboy had his wire wrapped around Schuldich's neck, though the telepath's hand was preventing it from being pulled taut. "You'll never win against us, Weiß," he taunted through strained speech.

"Oh, but I have to," the blond corrected. "I have a lot riding on this battle, you see. We can't lose *now*."

The German was silent a moment as he picked Yohji's thoughts for what he wanted. "You mean your little fucktoy?" he questioned with a chuckle.

"He's more than just a fucktoy, you bastard," the playboy ground out, pulling the wire tighter.

"Is that so?" Schuldich grinned. "You say that even though Farfarello fucked him? Nagi too, you know. Your little bedmate made quite the *pleasurable* hostage."

A low laugh issued from the blond. "You just don't get it, do you? The entire population of *Japan* could've fucked Aya and I wouldn't care. As long as *I'm* still the one he wants, none of that matters."

At the last word, the telepath brought his free arm up, slamming it backwards into Yohji's stomach. The playboy doubled over and the wire went slack. Using the position to his advantage, Schuldich kicked the blond's legs out from under him, landing hard on his chest and most likely cracking some ribs.

Aya's head turned as he heard his lover's cry of pain. Everything was turning a little fuzzy at the edges as he turned back to finish off Farfarello. One too many hits of his head against a stone pillar had likely given him a concussion. It was now or never.

Just as things were drawing to their final climax, the floor began to give way beneath them, plunging them into the cold, dark waters below. The redhead had looked back before he fell, noting with relief that his teammates were all alive, and Sakura, Aya-chan, and Manx - who had shown up just in time to save Sakura - were presumably safe somewhere else, as he couldn't see them. Hopefully, he too would make it out alive.