Weiss Kreuz Fan Fiction ❯ Youji's Daughter ❯ chapter six ( Chapter 6 )

Youji's Daughter

By Nix Winter

Disclaimers: I don't own WK. It's released in the US, it's worth buying. Support original artists, ne?

Chapter Six

You want to dream? You have plenty of time for dreams, when you're dead.

Standing up again brought Youji back to himself. Laying in bed, being laid up, all seemed to set him apart from the world, make the crap of the world fade, along with all the colors. Being laid up for six weeks made Youji know three things deep into the marrow of his soul. The first was that he and Aya had a bond that went through hell and back. If that weren't true, Aya would have used his sword like a can opener on his belly after that little faux pas in the hall way. The second was that they were going to raise this child together, be a family, and anyone in their way could go to Hell and not come back. The third was that he wasn't going to roll over and whine because of nothing.

Holding his belly, sliding his fingers over the swell there, he plotted ways to still be himself. Youji Kuduo wanted several things after six weeks of healthy bed rest. The first was a fucking cigarette, something harsh and American with so many chemicals in it that Omi could use it as a dart. He grinned, as he opened the closet in his room, imagining the target going down, a cigarette sticking out of his throat, a smile on dying lips. Yeah, morbid as hell, but the target had a cigarette.

He scratched the back of his head, debated how much crap he'd get if he teased Aya that he wanted to name their kid `Marlboro'. Yeah, that'd be a lot of crap, enough, maybe to be fun.

What he found in his closet wasn't fun though.

Elastic waist pants in pastel blues, a couple pair of jeans, also with elastic waists, long shirts a hippy would have liked, and not even a whiff of the reefer that should have gone with them, and what he wanted to know was whose idea of a joke was this. Ken would have been the suspect, but Ken had better taste.

Obscenities danced around on the inside of Youji's teeth. His daughter, and he knew it would be a daughter, did not need to hear the things he wanted to say. A feeling of family, of inclusiveness welled up in him and he patted the swell in his belly, then looked round self consciously, before whispering, "Daddy's little girl wants to go shopping, now doesn't she?"

Youji dragged the darker pair of jeans and an obviously girly shirt to the bathroom. He showered quickly, being careful of the mending wound down his abdomen. Shampoo made his eye twitch as the suds moved down his body, and he closed his eyes, let the water flow over him, letting the sting flow away, let it be covered with the day dream of Aya running his fingers through wet hair. Yeah, had to get Aya into the shower soon. It wasn't like they were still hiding their relationship.

A few minutes later, standing in front of the foggy mirror, he added a few more things to their shopping list, a hair dryer, hair gel, moisturizer, a decent fucking comb. He wanted to know how these people had been taking care of him. It was a good thing he'd been unconscious most of it, he decided. The sudden image of Aya combing his hair with the same brush he cleaned the barrel of his gun with made Youji grimace. It couldn't have been Aya taking care of that, or he reasoned, his hair would be a lot shorter.

He padded in search of his prey a few minutes later, wearing a gauzy shirt with thick cotton crochet lace set into the angel sleeves, and a V neck collar with more of the same lace.

Ken spotted him first and the twitch on the brunette's face felt almost worth wearing the shirt. "Youji."

"Hi, Ken," Youji said, smiling, trying not to make it look too cocky. If he was going to give them hell, he might as well go all the way. He let his voice raise a little, more high pitched, more female, "You look lovely today, Ken-ken. Are you having a good time?"

Yes, there was really a twitch. "Youji?" His name became so sweet, so solicitous, as if Ken weren't sure if he were male or female anymore. "How are you?"

Youji set both hands on the table in front of Ken's breakfast, then grinned, pure `I got you' predatory bliss. "I'm fine, Hidaka. I got my belly cut open, not my balls cut off. Where's Omi-kun?"

Ken's mouth snapped shut, open, shut, and for just a moment, Youji thought he might be in for a good punch to the jaw. Damn, there went another pleasure as long as he was pregnant. No cigarettes, no Ken baiting. Probably no Aya baiting either. Damn.

"He's just getting some coffee. Are you supposed to be walking around?" Ken asked, making an effort to smile, completely backing away from taking Youji's bait.

"Thanks for the concern," Youji said, and barely resisted asking if Ken shouldn't be out killing someone..

"You want to go shopping?" Omi repeated, scratching his forehead. "Ken and I would be happy to go get anything you'd like."

Ken smirked. "Do they make black leather pants in maternity styles?"

Youji twitched. Okay, Youji baiting seemed to be in style still. It was another unbalance in his life and he snarled silently, just the twitch of his mouth. Omi paled and Youji felt his manhood validated, then he felt petty, so he smiled. "Come on, Omi! I hate these clothes. I'm just feeling better today. Let's go into town, get some lunch. I'm not restricted to the lab, or anything."

"You look like a pregnant man," Ken said bluntly.

"You look like a water boy," Youji said, voice so sweet it could have drawn bees, "What's your point?"

"Youji-kun! Don't be mean," Omi snapped. "I'll take you shopping. You look like a pregnant woman, or you will if you shave and keep your mouth shut. If you can do that."

"I already shaved today," Youji said, running his fingers over his chin. He liked to see Omi so aggressive though. "What have you been up to while I was resting?"

Omi propped an elbow on Ken's shoulder, smiled. "Wouldn't you like to know? Aya's due back in a few hours. If we're going to do this, we should do it quickly. He's been very restless lately and if you're not here when he returns, he will likely...."

"Make like a valentine on crack," Ken interrupted, referencing Aya's sedated romantic mutterings when they'd first recovered Youji.

"Ken," Youji said, totally serious, "Forget about what he said in the hall, will you? I'll owe you one."

Ken cursed in English, pushing himself away from the table. "Owe me one? Go back to being the way it was. You and he were polite to each other, not begging favors and protecting each other. It's not like it's not nice and all that crap, but we're assassins. What do you think you're going to do, set up a nice little cottage? Weren't you the one that asked me if I was going to touch my girlfriend with all that blood on my hands? You gonna make baby bottles with blood on your hands?"

"Shut up," Youji said, and they all knew that a line had been crossed, something dark had swelled up around them.

"I'm sorry," Ken said, but the darkness lingered.

Youji chewed on the inside of his cheek as a million memories and dark thoughts flickered around through his head. He really wanted a cigarette right now. And he still wouldn't let himself have one. "This baby is important to me. I haven't always been a nice guy, really, I can be an asshole sometimes. I fake it all the time, that everything's wonderful, and I haven't got any reason to think that I'm worth a damn. I know I'm a killer."

Youji sat down, reached across the table and stole a bit a bit of egg from Ken's plate. "You're her uncle, so you can help out. Shit, Ken, I'm sorry. I'm a worthless piece of shit and I know I've been a bastard to you. But, I want to be better. I want to be a good person now. I don't know how the hell to really do that, so just shut the up."

"You're doing damn fine at it, aren't you?" Ken snarled, brown eyes narrowing. "Are you really going to carry that thing Takatori put in you?"

"Hell yes! This is my daughter! This is our daughter! Don't you ever talk about her like that again!" And the at that moment of high-tension Youji's eyes crossed. "Shit!"

Ken and Omi watched Youji run from the room, hand over his mouth. Both of them of them stood there, watching, as if the world didn't make any sense.

"Omi?" Ken asked, cautiously.

"I suppose that's one way to end a fight. And what is with you? Let him have this life to protect as long as he has it. "

"It's stupid," Ken insisted sullenly. "He's gonna lose that baby and then we'll have both him and Aya crazy as hell. Just because Kritiker is helping us now don't mean they're gonna be so nice if Youji-baka loses it."

"Kritiker wouldn't do anything to hurt an innocent child," Omi said, reproachfully.

"It isn't like there's really going to be a child. Youji is a man for Christ's sake."

"Youji's Youji. And the baby's alive today. Just you see you don't make that harder than it has to be!"

"I'm just trying to help!"

Omi was already moving towards the door, "Try differently!"

Omi was the youngest of them, but he was as good as Kritiker nobility. And he knew things. The baby was viable and healthy and fragile. For her health, and his, Youji needed to stay at the medical safe house. There were just too many things that could go wrong. Youji hadn't been the healthiest member of their team and Omi knew that there were concerns about his blood pressure, about depression. There was a more serious concern as well, that Omi wasn't letting anyone know about.

There was a Taketori spy in the medical safe house. They'd intercepted medical information about Youji being transmitted, but they had not figured out who the person was. They had linked the person to other links, and they were narrowing down the suspects. The leak had to be found.

For Omi, protecting Youji and the baby were of paramount importance as well, but if they did not weed out people who would give information to Masafumi, Youji and his daughter would never be safe.

"Youji?" Omi called as he opened the door assigned to Youji. It was really just a hospital room with a double bed. "Are you okay?"

"Crap," Youji groaned, "Yeah, I'm fine, Omi-kun. Just like a party with no headache to go with it. Don't worry, Omi. I'm okay. I'm okay. It'll take more than an argument with soccer ball to really cause me problems. I'm a fucking killer, after all."

But that was exactly what Omi had been worried about and he'd been going to try to talk Youji into just placing some orders for clothes on line, but hearing the defeat in Youji's voice, the real leader of Weiss recognized a deeper threat.

"Youji," Omi stepped inside. "You're going to be a wonderful parent. You and Aya together. The two of you are unstoppable. Let's go to town, uh? Just pick a different shirt?"

"Yeah, okay," Youji said, just a little more hopeful. He peeled the shirt off as he crossed the room. He and Aya shared the room, though it was discretely full of all manner of medical equipment. "Where did Aya go?"

"Information gathering," Omi said, looking away from the long red puckery scar down Youji's side. "Potential mission."

"Really?" Youji quickly, buttoning the most masculine shirt in the closet, leaving it untucked, even as he looked at himself in the mirror, the swell of his stomach, the way the buttons just strained slightly.

The uncomfortable pause let them both acknowledge quietly that Youji couldn't go on missions at all for a while. "Do I look funny?"

"Yes, but that's just because I'm used to you looking like you could be on the cover of GQ," Omi said smiling. "Let's go, get back, then you can be all dressed up for Aya and have a quiet dinner."

Youji raked his hair back, fingers trembling just a little from the loss of breakfast he hadn't eaten and the fight with Ken, the fight with his own fears about the future. "I am going to be good at this, with this baby. You'll see. I'm going to give her a happy life. She'll be safe and loved."

"Youji," Omi said softly, not really sure what to say. The best case scenario was that Youji would carry the child to the middle of the second trimester before the distension caused terminal problems. They just had to find the spy before Youji was really put at risk, and Omi really did want to believe, there could be a beautiful new baby from this. "No child could have a better or more loving parent than you." Omi meant it. If anyone could pull of a miracle, Youji could

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