Weiss Kreuz Fan Fiction ❯ Yotan's Dating Service ❯ Things Go Crazy. Litarally ( Chapter 7 )

Disclaimer: I own a computer. I own this plot. I own a massive collection of anime and manga. (Including Weis Kruz Gluhen, in which Yohji is . . . not Yohji. I'm sorry, they ruined him. Bastards.) But I do not own Weis Kruz, or I would have had Yohji not insane in Gluhen. ( I repeat, Bastards.)

Authors Note: Believe me, I have excuses for being so late. More at bottom, as well as thanks.

Yotan's Dating Service

Chapter 6

+++++++++

Shuldich stood, watching the two men in the center of the room, one light the other dark. Assholes, both of them. They deserved to die. Fucking back-stabbers! Fucking low-down, cheating . . . It hurt. It hurt a lot. And he was going to make sure they felt every ounce of his pain.

++++++++++

Yohji sat in his little corner, watching with shock as the scene unfolded infront of him. The madman who he'd thought would kill him, the man he'd thought would save him, and Shuldich . . . whose face went through shock and pain, then settled on rage. He was staring right at the madman.

Oooooh, was he ever confused. Especially when the light haired man's eye rolled back into his head, and he started whimpering, then going into small convulsions.

"No!" Brad yelled from where he was trying to support Farfarello - Jei - whoever it was. "You fucking sadistic bastard! You just had to come back and hurt him again! Get the hell away from us!"

Er, thought Yohji, Again? He slowly got up off the floor, moving cautiously so that he didn't attract attention to himself. What the hell was he supposed to do now? Hmm, guess that date is off, anyway. . .

The madman's legs buckled, causing Brad to pay attention to him, and not the redhead standing still in the door. He hadn't moved, hadn't even taken his eyes off of the madman. The look of rage was still in his eyes. Yohji started to make his way over to him. This was Shuldich, just Shuldich, Yohji didn't need to be afraid of him. Shuldich wouldn't hurt him, he thought as he took one slow step at a time. He didn't want to be noticed by this man, not by the Shuldich standing infront of him. He liked the normal Shuldich - perhaps a little too much - but he didn't want Shuldich's eyes to meet his right now. Not while he was like this. He just wanted the man he'd gotten to know back - the one with a sharp tongue and biting wit.

He was two steps away, then one. And then he was standing right next to the enraged German. What to do now? Er, he hadn't really thought that far ahead . . . well, he'd always been a fan of doing what his instincts dictated. Time to put them to use.

He stepped yet closer and softly laid a hand on Shuldich's upper arm. Nothing happened, not even a twitch. He placed his mouth near the other man's ear, and whispered, "Shuldich," hoping the sound of his name would snap him out of it. Sure enough, some of the feeling drained out of his eyes, he started to look uneasy. "Shuldich, come back,"

++++++++++

That's right, feel the pain, share the pain with me you cheating low down son of a bitch see what you've done to my life -

Shuldich . . .

What the hell-? No. No, don't do that. I won't be distracted. Go away.

But - but I know that voice -

No! These bastards deserve to die-!

Shuldich, come back . . .

What? No, I can't come back, can't come . . . but . . .

But I want to. I was happy there, with him . . .

Can I go back? Too vulnerable . . . but he's there . . . never get attached. Never.

Shit.

I already am.

Shuldich turned his head towards Yohji, and looked into the green eyes that stared back at him, trying to find something about him, anything that would lead him to be mistrusted. He found only concern. And a healthy dose of fear, but mostly concern. For - for Shuldich.

Shuldich felt his strength running out of him like last night's beer. He collapsed, trying to brace himself for the hard wooden floor rushing to meet him. It never did. He found himself in the one position he didn't want to be in - in Yohji's arms. Oh hell, the man was making distancing himself very difficult.

He still didn't know what to make of the situation. It had been so ingrained in his brain - never get close to anyone. It had been drilled into his mind over and over again, his entire life, he couldn't just break that habit because of one man. But for the moment, he wasn't going anywhere. He would enjoy this moment, just this once. He closed his eyes and concentrated on the warm body holding him, listening to the slightly rapid heart beat right by his ear.

There was a crash, and he reluctantly looked up, trying his hardest not to look to the center of the room, but failing. Hm. Farfarello had jumped out the window.

Oh dear.

+++++++++++

Yohji was relieved when Schuldich looked at him, thinking it was an improvement over the blind rage. But now the fury was replaced with something else - pain? Caution? It didn't matter, it was better than anger. Or that was what he thought until Shuldich collapsed, causing Yohji to act fast, grabbing him around the waist and shoulders, holding him tightly.

This is very, very weird. He thought, burying his face into the other man's hair, closing his eyes in an attempt to think his situation out. And holding Shuldich like this is very, very nice . . . Gah! Mind out of the gutter Yotan. You have one crazy man and one anal-retentive man sitting in the center of the room, doing god-knows-what.

Yohji looked up to see Brad crouching by Farfarello, who was curled into a little ball on the floor. The American was talking softly to the crazy man, trying to get his attention. He reached out a hand to touch the prone form, but recoiled in shock when the other leapt to his feet, looking like a wild animal trapped in a cage. His eyes fell on the broken door, but he cringed when he saw that Shuldich and Yohji were blocking it. His panicked eyes fell on the window just as Brad reached out to grab his arm, trying to restrain him from what he knew was coming the moment the Irish man had started looking for escape routes.

But it was too late - Farfarello took a flying leap at the window, breaking through it with startling ease and plummeting to the ground below.

"Shit!" Brad said, looking down to where Farfarello had fallen, watching as the other man stumbled to his feet and started running down the street. Brad turned around quickly, meeting Yohji's wide eyes. "Lets go," He said, grabbing the blonde by the arm and starting to drag him away from the office.

"What?" Yohji asked.

"We need to find him. We'll use your car, it'll be faster. And bring Him," Brad said, pointing and glaring at Shuldich, who still looked somewhat dazed, but awake enough now to glare back. "He's going to fix what he did."

"I'm not going anywhere until you tell me what the hell is going on!"

"I'll explain in the car, now move!"

Shuldich broke off from Yohji, stumbling back and glaring at Brad. "I am not going anywhere with this bastard," He spat out.

"Oh yes you are," Brad retorted.

"No, I will not! Just get the hell out of my life!"

Yohji was getting a headache. He wanted to know what was going on, but the only way Brad would tell him was if he got his way and they went to the car. He knew the American enough to be familiar with his stubborn streak. "Shu," He said, looking plaintively at the red head. "Please,"

Shuldich looked over at the only person he had trusted in three years. Damn the man to hell for having such convincing eyes. Shuldich growled as he stalked out the door, not noticing as Brad reached out to stop him, or as Yohji batted the Americans hand out of the way.

"Are you coming or not?" He said over his shoulder.

+++++++++

Yohji had a nice car, however unused it was the majority of the time. It was a Camero convertible from America - two door with power steering, power windows and lots of other things with the word `power' in them. Yohji liked his car. He liked the way it drove, liked the look of the body, the feel of the leather seats.

Brad did not like Yohji's car. He thought it was superfluous, over priced and completely unneeded in the city - he'd much prefer a nice Mercedes. He let Yohji know exactly what he thought of his car, and often, which was one of the reasons Yohji took such pleasure in aggravating the American. It was merely vengeance in the name of his car.

Brad sneered at the gearshift from his passenger seat, but did not comment on the outdated manual for fear of a car crash. Instead he looked out his window, trying vainly to catch a glimpse of the man he had lost.

Shuldich was holed up in the back seat, also not saying anything, staring out the window but not looking for the missing Irish man. He crossed his arms, not telling the others what he knew - where Farfarello had gone - for the simple reason that he really didn't want to find the person he held responsible for ruining his life.

Yohji was getting really, really sick of the silence in his car. "An explanation would be nice," He said finally.

Brad stayed silent. Shuldich watched the world pass by outside his window.

"Alright, I just had a madman attack me, threaten my life, tell me about people he's killed, and break all the glass I have in my office. Explain."

Brad glared at him. "Keep searching, he couldn't have gone far."

Shuldich looked uneasy.

Time for drastic measures. "Sooooo, you guys hear about that local sports team?" he started. "Hear they're doing poorly this year. And one of them might be having an affair with someone in parliament. It's causing a big stir with all the higher-class club goers. And speaking of parliament-" Oh yes. He could see the nervous twitch start up in Brad's right eyebrow already. And he knew Shuldich couldn't stand this kind of talk - though he could hold out against it for an incredibly long time. "-And then Tsukushi told this guy that she liked the other guy who went to Paris after that model girl -"

"Alright! Shut up!" Brad said. "I'll tell you what happened. Christ, how do you know so much gossip?"

"Hazard of the job. Stop avoiding the subject." Yohji leveled a quick, icy look at his ex-employer. It was returned in full.

Brad looked back out the window, collecting his thoughts. "It started for me when I went to Germany, to help set up our chain there. It was about three and a half years ago, when you were still working for us. I hired Jei, the man who was once Farfarello," he spat out the name, as if he disliked the very taste of it on his tongue. "I hired him for the front desk because I liked his image," there was a snort from the back seat, which made Brad narrow his eyes. He kept talking. "He was perfect for the job, incredibly good with the customers, understanding and talkative. I wanted to keep seeing him after I returned to Japan. So I went back there every chance I got."

Brad took a break from talking, staring down at his hands and remembering the attraction he had felt, the affection towards the blonde Irish man. Jei.

"I wanted more than a friendship with him. He said he had a lover - that he couldn't betray his trust. But that was the only reason, not because he didn't want to be with me. Because he did. We both wanted to be together, he just didn't know how to make it work."

He looked up then, staring in the rear view mirror, looking right at the man who had ruined everything.

"And then he came," He spat out, "And made Jei into what he is today."

"Whatever happened was your own fault," Shuldich hissed back. "I walked in on you kissing my boyfriend of four years. I don't know what happened, I just reacted. And you both got what was coming to you." He snapped his head back towards the window.

"Nothing we could have done deserves what you did to Jei. You tore out his mind!"

"Alright, I got that beginning part," Yohji broke in, "But now I'm confused again. Repeat that last bit?"

"If you didn't want to face the consequences, you shouldn't have been there in the first place." Shuldich said with forced mildness.

"Usually, cheating on someone doesn't have these types of consequences you bastard. You're going to find him, and take back whatever it is you did three years ago!"

"If I could do that, it would have been done three years ago!" Shuldich said, going back to yelling.

"I'm getting a headache." Yohji muttered to himself.

"You didn't even try." Brad hissed. "It's your fault, you should take responsibility for your actions. Or lack thereof,"

"Oh, like you're so much better," Shuldich sneered, switching tracks. "You have your own secret which you've been living off of for years. But you've never used it to help anyone else, have you? Only for your own good. Asshole."

Brad looked shocked for a split second, but the emotion was quickly replaced by anger. "How the hell do you know that?" He growled, turning his head to look back at the red head, meeting the glare sent his way.

"Do you even need to ask?" Shuldich sneered. "You knew what was going to happen if you stayed, didn't you? Why didn't you just leave when you were supposed to? Did you do it on purpose, you sadistic bastard?"

Odd as Yohji found it, Shuldich seemed to be achieving a better mood directly in proportion with how mad he was making Crawford. "I need a drink," The blonde muttered to himself. He gave up trying to get any answers at all.

"I didn't know what you were going to do! How the hell am I supposed to predict psychopaths?"

"Don't lie to me, buddy. I know you knew something was going to happen! Why can't you just get out of my life?!"

"It doesn't work like that! I knew something was going to happen, and I knew it had to do with you. So I stayed behind to protect him from you! And look at that, I was right. You did hurt him."

"Because you were there!"

"Exactly! I was there for him when you weren't! You should have known it wouldn't last, what with your abilities!"

"I didn't know anything Jei didn't want me to know. I have some respect for privacy you know! And it's not like I can control it."

"I'm sure you can't. I'm sure all of those `accidents' in your past were just that, and you didn't mean for anyone to get hurt," Brad's voice was cold and sarcastic.

"Shut up," Shuldich hissed.

"Oh yes, that little boy you befriended in the orphanage," Brad was now taking the upper hand in the argument, and reveling in the power he had over the red head. "Died, didn't he? Jumped off a building, the orphanage said. Mysterious circumstances . . . I know your secret, and you're going to help me, or I swear to god I'll tell the government about this."

"Right. And they'll believe you. I think not. Don't speak about matters you cannot even begin to comprehend - you don't know the slightest thing about my life. It wasn't my fault." Shuldich sounded defensive about his past - Yohji wondered what had happened to the boy Brad was talking about. Orphanage?

"And you expect me to believe that, `guilty'?" Brad said with malice.

"Again, things you know nothing about, American boy."

Yohji reached over to put some quiet music on. His headache was getting worse. He wondered if anyone would notice if he got one of the sample bottles of whisky out of the glove compartment. He glanced at the two men, locked in a staring contest neither could win.

Yohji looked back at Shuldich with unease, thinking of what had just transpired in his office. Well, maybe one of them could win . . .

"Hey, relax. We have a crazy man to find here people, save the yelling for when you're not in my car." He said, trying to placate both parties. They fell back into their seats with identical glowers.

Yohji tried to put things into prospective. Brad and Jei - Farfarello - whatever. Shuldich and . . . whoever. Shuldich and craziness. Brad and more craziness. Oh, his day just kept getting better and better.

Alright, Shuldich and uh, Jei were a couple three years ago, Brad and Jei cheated, Shuldich found out and, for lack of a better description, drove Jei insane. Jei becomes Farfarello, gets institutionalized, escapes and comes here after . . . who? Brad or Shuldich?

And what was with the crazy mind powers? Brad - prediction? Sounded about right. And come to think of it, Brad did do awfully well on the stock market. Shuldich - sounded like telepathy. Hmm, interesting. And slightly creepy. Yohji wondered if Shuldich could be reading his mind right now . . .

And he hoped that if the red head was doing any such thing, he was sharing in the headache that was now a bothersome ache behind Yohji's eyes. There were still so many questions. How had Shuldich and Jei met? Perhaps the orphanage Brad had mentioned. What had happened to the boy who had fallen off the roof? Allegedly fallen off, apparently.

Three years. Three years ago, Yohji had been happy with Asuka. She'd still been alive and well. Actually, it was coming up to the anniversary of her death. Three years previously, Yohji had been too busy at work to come get her - to even take a small break to go tell her the date was off. Stupid.

Three years ago, Shuldich was apparently happy with Jei. But Jei wasn't happy with Shuldich, or that's what it sounded like. He'd had an affair with Brad. Who'd missed his flight, and inadvertently caused the death of Asuka.

Wait. Rewind. Three years, both of these events happened, at around the same time . . .? No way. There was no way they were connected. But . . .

Yohji remembered the week Brad had spent away, not coming back even for his precious business. He remembered the melancholy mood the man had been in whenever he'd seen his old employee. He remembered the dates he'd tried to set the American up on, only to be rebuffed.

Shit.

"Eyes on the road!" Brad said from beside him, grabbing the steering wheel just in time to prevent Yohji from guiding the car into oncoming traffic. Yohji snapped out of his shock to pay attention to keeping them in one piece. But his mind was still swimming.

He caught Shuldich's eyes in the rear view mirror, seeing the guilt written clearly there.

"Sorry," Shuldich muttered softly to him. And Yohji knew that Shuldich knew, and that he was right about the timing. The flight Crawford had missed, the lover he'd lost, was the thing that caused Asuka's death.

No. Yohji thought to himself. I've already worked this out. Braddy didn't cause Asuka's death. If anyone is to blame, it's me.

"You should be," Brad said to Shuldich, misinterpreting the apology.

"Not to you asshole." Shuldich snapped back. Yohji winced at the rancor in his voice. He was tired, and just wanted to get this over with. But he couldn't just leave the Irishman out on the streets, where he could cause harm to innocent people.

He can cause harm to me, too, Yohji thought to himself.

The sigh he heard come from the backseat proved that Yohji wasn't the only one tired of this whole situation.

"Look, I'm tired of this. I'm tired of running, I'm tired of dealing with problems I'd rather stay buried, and I'm tired of this situation." Shuldich said, confirming Yohji's suspicions. "I'll help this one time. I'll try to fix him. But if it doesn't work, it's in your hands." He told Crawford.

"Great," Yohji said with no little relief. "Now we just need to find the little bugger."

"That way," Shuldich said, pointing to the left. "Take a left here, another left and a right. I think we may have to get into the alleys."

Brad looked over at him. "You were hiding his whereabouts?"

"Hey, I wasn't the one who wanted to find our happy crazy friend."

Yohji just took it in stride. He'd been through too much today to take exception to his red head's little quirks of personality.

Woah woah, wait a minute. His red head? Oh this was so not the time to get into these thoughts. Especially when he had a suspected telepath sitting in his back seat.

: Ah, but I'm an extremely sexy telepath sitting in your back seat:

Yes, that was indeed true. GAH!

: Hmm, I could get used to this. Has anyone ever told you that you have a very spicy and sweet mind?:

No, that wasn't really on the list of things he heard on a regular basis. Another thing he didn't get on a regular basis was people in his brain.

Get out. He thought.

: Er, yeah. About that. I'm not really much in control of the situation. I'll try not to hear your thoughts, but I can't control it that easily.:

No wonder Jei felt stifled. Did you do this to him too?

: No! Actually, this is the first time I've ever gone into someone else's mind. It's not really something I tried to flaunt - more like repress and ignore for as long as possible. It's quite interesting.:

And Creepy. Let's not forget creepy.

:I suppose. Then again, I might just start spending more time in here. Seems homier than my own brain. And you've got to admit, it's nice not being alone in your brain.:

No no, I quite enjoy loneliness. Get out. Now.

: Touchy touchy. Alright, leaving.:

"Eyes on the road Dammit!" Brad said, grabbing the wheel again. Yohji realized that he was still driving. Only a few seconds had passed.

: Yotan?: came Shuldich's mental voice. Yohji wondered if he could do the mental equivalent to a grunt. : I really am sorry. It was my fault, no matter what I tell that asshole you used to work for.:

"Don't be a fool." Yohji said out loud. He didn't like to see Shuldich so meek. He would make it stop if he had to embarrass the other man into a fit of rage. Again. "You said it yourself, you didn't have any control over it. Just do your best at fixing it, and I'll call us even."

Brad eyed them both suspiciously.

"There, that alley. He's about three blocks away." Shuldich said, pointing to his right. Everyone started paying more attention to the area they had been led to. It was one of the darker, more run down parts of the city. The apartment buildings were interspersed with warehouses, which were either working or had been renovated into more living space. It was dark, dank, and one of the few places Yohji would rather hack off his own leg than wander into. Farfarello would fit in perfectly.

Speaking of whom, there was a flash of white hair ahead of them, quickly disappearing down a smaller alley. Yohji spun the wheel bringing the car into a drift and trying to aim for the opening, gunning the engine when he was clear. The walls were mere inches away from the rear view mirrors, but he was too busy concentrating on driving to worry about his precious car.

Shuldich was plenty worried. He watched the bricks of the buildings speed by, going at least forty kilometers an hour on the straights. How the hell was Farfarello running this fast?

Brad was clutching the armrest and the door handle, his teeth gritted while he watched the man just ahead of them run full out, dodging around corners to try and shake them, slowing them down. But still, he was so god damned fast.

Farfarello took a leap straight up while Yohji and Brad watched, grabbing hold of a fire escape and climbing up faster than a monkey on crack. Brad was out of the car and running before the tires had stopped spinning, followed by Yohji and Shuldich, who, being more concerned for their own health and welfare, did wait for the car to stop.

They looked around briefly when they reached to roof of the warehouse they'd climbed up, trying to catch a glimpse of either Crawford or Farfarello.

"There!" Yohji said, gesturing as he ran towards the two retreating forms. Damn, they were getting awfully close to the edge of the building.

He watched them jump to the next roof. Oh goddamn.

Alright Yotan, you can do this. You remember your high school days with Botan? You were always doing crazy shit like this.

In the split second before jumping, he went over the events of the day.

Well, maybe not quite as crazy as this.

And then he landed on the other roof, Shuldich beside him. They ran after the two others.

"Kudoh," Shuldich said from beside him.

"What?" Yohji said, trying to save as much breath as possible for actual breathing.

"What are we going to do when we catch him?"

Oh fuck. That was a really good question. "Uh," Yohji replied in a fit of brilliance.

: Oh brilliant.: Shuldich thought at him, echoing his own sarcastic thought. Hm, come to think of it, his own sarcastic mental was taking on a frighteningly scary similarity to Shuldich.

: That's because I, unlike you, am brilliant. :

Yes, modest too I see. Have I mentioned `get out of my head' recently?

: Right right. Oh look, another roof. :

This was the craziest day of Yohji's life. Insane.

He grinned as he lengthened his stride.

Shuldich pulled ahead of Yohji as he saw the huge gap between two more buildings they were headed towards, and knew that Farfarello wouldn't be able to make this jump. He had to do something, but what could he do, other than the physical? His mind wasn't trained for this, he didn't know if he could do anything at all. Hell, he hadn't even known he could communicate with anyone using his weird gift/curse until he'd heard Yohji's rather inappropriate thoughts about him.

Not that he minded those thoughts. On the contrary; it gave him a warm fuzzy feeling he wasn't quite sure he liked yet. What he did know, was that Yohji was a very addictive person, and he wanted to keep the blonde in his life.

Damn him, he was stirring everything up in the German's life. He could have lived perfectly happily on his own before meeting the blonde, but Ooh no, Yohji just had to interfere in his life. He just had to care.

Ack, not care. He didn't care, Shuldich thought, trying to snuff out the increase of fuzzy feeling he'd gotten upon this thought. Nonono. Stupid Euro-Asian.

Farfarello slid to a stop at the edge of a building, close enough to send the gravel off onto the busy street below. He spun to face the three following him, barring his teeth and retrieving two knives from god-knew where.

Shuldich and Brad advanced slowly, not wanting to make any sudden moves. Yohji stayed a reasonable distance away, something Shuldich thought prudent. He doubted Yohji could handle this situation.

Farfarello threw himself at Brad, who moved like water to avoid him. Shuldich vaguely recognized some Aikido and Judo moves. The fool was trying not to hurt the madman.

Shuldich launched his own series of punches, trying to work in concert with Crawford by adding some offense to the mix. Together, they managed to grab the Irishman, but didn't know what to do from there. They held the madman as he thrashed, trying everything to escape. Shuldich cried out as he was bitten on the upper arm.

He noticed a form coming towards them, wincing as Farfarello kicked out at the newcomer. He was surprised as Yohji moved faster than normal people could see, appearing right infront of the Irishman. Oh no, not in biting distance . . .

The thought was lost as the body he was holding jerked and spasmed before falling limp. He looked from the body to Brad to Yohji. "The hell?"

Yohji backed away wearing an innocent smile and holding up a small black box.

"The power of the tazer my friend. Never leave home without one."

Shuldich stared at him for a moment. "Sometimes Yotan," He said slowly, "You scare me. What are you doing with a tazer?"

"Well, you know how I was telling you about that time I would go out and get shit faced every night?"

Shuldich nodded mutely.

"I found out that in a bar fight, it doesn't matter if you have a black belt in kung-fu, you can still be put out by a big guy with a bar stool. So I got myself this nice little toy. Fun, huh?"

"You are so weird."

"I'm allowed to be weird. I'm in shock over this whole day." Yohji said with a shrug.

Brad looked at them and shook his head before going back to gazing at Farfarello. "Lets get him back to the apartment."

"Wait wait, what apartment?" Yohji asked suspiciously.

"Yours of coarse." Brad said, hefting Farfarello's weight into his arms and starting towards where they could see a rusted ladder. Yohji was about to reply when Shuldich grinned and clapped him on the back.

"Heh. You are the one who wanted to find him Yotan."

"Hey, Braddy wanted to find him too," Yohji protested.

"Yes, but he doesn't count. He's as insane as that other one. You're the one who convinced me to help." They followed Brad to the ladder, conversing on the way.

"Aw, I didn't know you cared what I thought Shushu," Yohji teased.

"Oh shut up. It was momentary insanity. I'm better now."

"Your type of insanity doesn't get better Shushu." Yohji said, looking around them when they got to the ground. "Where the hell are we?"

Shuldich mock-sighed and brushed past him. "Do I need to hold your hand in everything Yotan?"

"It would be nice, yeah,"

"Shut up both of you," Crawford cut in, stalking behind them. "I would like to know what you plan on doing about this, German,"

Shuldich shrugged as he sauntered through the ally and towards the distant car. "Something will come to me." He edged around a pile of something that smelled like urine and rain water. Yohji jumped when the lump belched and twitched, and hurried to walk beside Shuldich. Crawford snarled and glared at the lump as he passed.

Yohji approached his car, thankful that they hadn't taken too long. Any longer, and the inhabitants of the place would have swarmed all over it, trying to get their hands on anything stealable. Not that he blamed them - if he was in their position, living down here, he'd probably be the same. But he liked his car enough to strangle anyone who tried to mess with it.

He curled up into his front seat, letting Shuldich and Brad argue over seating arrangements while he tried to get back some amount of normality in his life. He wasn't even going to think about everything that had happened until he was within reaching distance of a straight jacket and a bottle of very very strong whiskey.

He turned the car on, feeling the soft vibration of the starting engine. He could just drive away, and not have to deal with any of this. He looked out to the two other conscious men still standing outside, meeting jade green eyes that looked at him with a mixture of worry and irritation. What was going on in that mind?

But then the irritation cleared, and Yohji could only see the same man he'd seen in the bar almost three weeks ago. Shit. He couldn't leave that man alone.

Then Brad was getting into the back with Farfarello, holding the other man ostensibly to keep him from running again. Probably more because he wanted to be near the madman.

And he'd thought that Crawford was weird before he'd known of this.

Yohji relaxed somewhat in the car, falling into the rhythm of the road easily.

The drive was much too short.

Real Authors Note: Well, I have exams coming up, as well as a thousand last minute tests and projects, so working on this is hard. Summer is coming up though, and there's only eight chapters in this fic. Almost done. Also, I went to Anime North and got much manga. It was good. Also gave me my muse back, which I really needed for that beginning scene. Oh, and I found out that writing more fics is definitely not a good way to get over writers block, it just makes you busier. But it's so much fun . . .neither of the new ones is finished, but one is a Harry Potter fic, (Yes, this is a shameless plug,) and the other is a Yohji x Farfarello. Bwahahaha. Um, yeah, neither of them are up, but if you're interested, gimme a shout.

Lemme see, next on the agenda is THANK YOU to everyone who has reviewed. I haven't given you people nearly enough praise, and believe me, you deserve it. I LOVE YOU ALL. You make this worth writing, even when I want to kick my monitor in. Special thanks goes to everyone who reviews on a regular basis, especially MiniMorr and Chibi-Chan, who have added me to their `Favorite Stories' list. The rest of you, I will list you at the end of this fic, and I'm not ignoring you at all.