False Dawn

The stars shimmered in the evening sky through a lacework of cirrus clouds like a certain pair of dark blue eyes veiled by glasses. The evening air was cool and crisp. The silence was unbroken except for the occasional scuffle of a cat or a dog going about their nightly rounds. It was like many a perfect night that the Weiß spent planning then launching assassinations. Like many others spent in reconnaissance and lying in wait. Going head on head against his team... Aya rose up from his position and sighed at the empty street below.

Why did I even bother to wait up for him? He's obviously not coming. It's nearly been four hours since the time he was suppose to arrive. It's not as if it was the first time he's stood you up, just like that other time…
 
 

^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^

The seat was warm and felt like it had been imprinted onto Ran's butt. He had been sitting at the airport waiting area for nearly twelve hours straight. He had only risen to get something handy to eat and drink at lunch before resuming his post. His Brad-koi had promised that the latter would meet him there on his eighteenth birthday. He had been eighteen this morning.

His Brad-koi would have to pick him up. He had to believe. His koibito was the only person he had left. Father, mother and sister gone within the space of an hour, last year. Justice and vengeance denied to him wherever he turned. Takatori was an esteemed member of society who would believe a boy probably hysterical with grief over an up-and-coming minister? He could no longer go to school. It felt wrong now to go along with his schoolmates since he nothing in common with them. They looked forward to studying in the university and finding dates when he had begun to descend into the grim underworld. He yearned to have Brad to confide all these adult problems suddenly thrust on him, to have his koi make it all right again. Childish, as he knew it to be; things will never be right again. Never. Brad's presence however would have made it bearable. All he had left was Brad. If his koibito didn't come for him then…then…

Evening had fallen, but Brad didn't come. No one came, Ran had grown more and more stony faced by the hour. By the time the waiting area closed for the night, an extremely dispirited Ran went home.

No one came, no one came… Ran, no my name is Aya remember that's what I swore to Aya-chan. I am Aya and from now on my sister and vengeance are the most important things to me, I have nothing and no one else. I will wait for the day that I can kill Takatori and Aya-chan will awaken. That's all I have left. Brad-koi forgot about me, he probably never loved me. I was probably some toy to play with then to leave behind forgotten…

The next day Ran had given his answer to Shion. It was a yes. He would train not only for self-defense but to be an active agent for Kritiker.

This way…this way I can make more than enough money to keep Aya-chan comfortable while I try to get my vengeance on Takatori.
 

Love has to cry but need not die
Heart has to sigh the test of time

Lost in other memories, Aya decided that he had been an idiot then for letting Brad take advantage of him so. He had been a cocky thirteen, happy and carefree. Innocent in all ways, he admired the brunette gaijin that had introduced himself as Brad Crawford. He admired the latter as a sports hero and later something more. In the hindsight of years of experience, Aya knew now that interest had been cleverly fostered. Many of what had seemed to be quite harmless moves on the board by Brad then had been calculated to seduce. But then, he had been naïve then, but he shouldn't have given so easily. Yes, he had been a fool.

Not again, not now…

Aya paced to the window to close it when a faint sound made him stop and look back down. A car turned from the corner to park neatly on the curb. Could it be? Incandescent doubt like pain flashed before Aya's mind eye, blinding him for the moment to any other possibility. No it couldn't be it's probably somebody else, just a coincidence…

But after a moment, a familiar figure came out of the car. Crawford stepped into the streetlight mussing his blue-black hair with a tired gesture. He straightened his glasses before disappearing into the stairwell.

Heart pounding with apprehension, Ran waited for his former lover to climb up the stairs to his apartment. He wasn't sure now that it was a good idea to meet Brad. It had been so long. He had changed, Brad had changed, and things have changed.  Besides what could be said that wasn't said the last time…

Ran moved to answer the door with a calculated delay. He didn't want Cra—Brad to read too much eagerness into his gesture or to give away the fact that he had waited all this time for the latter. He was wearing pajamas anyway. He had half-thought that Brad was about to do a no-show. It was almost midnight and the note said seven-thirty. After the fourth tentative knock, he opened the door blinking artfully at Brad.

Brad looked like he had a hell of a day. He wore a rumpled white suit and his eyes were shadowed with exhaustion through his glasses. In short, he had the look of a man who had put in a ten-hour day's work and then drove all the way out here from Tokyo. Knowing Brad from way back when, that was what he did. Good ole Brad never missed a practice session. Even when he was practically screwing my brains out, he had a schedule made.

Exasperation laced with warm affection colored these thoughts of Ran's. He wanted to scold Brad for being such an idiot. The latter could have called him postpone their meeting to a later time. Ran may have not understood but would have forgiven such a lapse. Tokyo was a goodly way away from the place he had decided to settle down. The thought made Ran frown.

After all this time you could still think of him that way? He's an assassin for hire. Well so are you! We're different. I, at least, try to kill only those who deserved it, he doesn't care who he kills but for the money involved! Oh really then why is he here? If all he cares about is money then why doesn't he stay in Tokyo and get a good's night sleep to start earning again tomorrow. Yeah, that's what I'd like to know too. Besides there's Schuldich…

Ran remembered very well what he had seen in the bar. If Brad hadn't been dating the German redhead then Farfarello was a priest. The man was well nigh clinging on to Brad like a leech. Besides, Ran wasn't blind. He'd seen the wistful looks Schuldich gave Brad even in the missions. They were definitely a couple.

"Well?" Ran said in an edged voice. There was no hint at all of gentleness, nothing but Abyssinian's curtness, the katana's sharp edge.

"Gomen nasai. Something came up."

" Come in." Something always does. It would do nothing but arouse the curiosity of Ran's neighbors if their talk turned unpleasant out here in the hall.

"So what did you want to see me…?" Asked Ran as soon as Crawford was seated on the shabby couch, ignoring the fluttering in his stomach. He never got to finish for Crawford had latched onto him and had kissed him hard on the lips. For a timeless instant, Ran forgot what brought them to this moment. The kiss was sweet and demanding as always and it made the years seem to fade away. The hurt, the betrayals, Weiß and Schwartz seem unimportant…

"Hn." Said Ran as they parted betraying no emotion.

"You're no longer Weiß and Takatori's dead." Crawford purred it into his ear as he took off his glasses with a snap of one hands.

"So we can just start where we left off?" Snarled Ran. He didn't know what Crawford was pulling. If he didn't see the latter with Schuldich, he'd have truly thought that Brad was sincere but no. He had seen what he had seen and he wasn't going to be played for a fool. Not again!

"What's with you? You're not with Hidaka are you?" Something dangerous came into Crawford's tone. His eyes began to glitter like diamond lasers.

"What do you mean by that?"

"Or broken up about you're little boyfriend, I mean he's obviously decided to stay in Tokyo while you're here…"

Of all the presumptuous assumptions…You're still as arrogant as ever, Brad.

"Ken is like a little brother to me, he's much younger than me…"

"All of three years, I believe?" Crawford snorted

"Note that, that didn't stop me and we had five years difference between us—where five years mattered the most." Crawford sounded real guilty as he said it.

Oh, Ran remembered it all right, as if it was yesterday…
 
 

^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^

An unexpected shower caught Ran and his Brad-niisan, out of doors downtown far from Ran's house and Brad's hotel room. They decided to go to a motel close by to dry out before going on.

"You take the shower first, Ran-kun." Brad-niisan said.

"Go on, I would get into trouble with your parents if I let you catch a cold in this wet. Leave your clothes by the fan though, so they can dry before you put it on again." Brad added giving one of his not so innocent little pushes when Ran hesitated to do so. Brad was his guest after all.

"Aa, you're too much like my 'kaasan you know…" Teased Ran, while doing as he was bid. He had thought nothing of it at that time but undressed and went bathed.

"I'm finished, Brad-niisan." Caroled Ran as he went out in the shower. Wearing only a towel around his waist, he walked jauntily into the room where Brad was standing naked toweling his hair dry.

"Go get you're clothes by the fan."

"Hai, 'kaaaaaaaasan." Ran hid his ambivalent feelings by punning. He felt positively strange like butterflies were in his stomach at the sight of Brad-niisan without his clothes on. It was like the feeling he got sometimes when he was alone with his Brad-niisan and the latter would affectionately touch him now and again. Ran had been uneasy at first at all the touching. He had heard that Westerners were "touchy" expressive sorts of people who vented their expression more often by touching. He had gotten use to Brad doing it that it didn't alarm Ran when Brad suddenly went over to hug him.

Of course, nobody had told Ran at that time that some of the things that Brad did crossed the line of affection to the forbidden intimacy. Brad would steady him with an arm then trail the said arm down Ran's back or brush against his pelvis. Brad would also purposely crowd against Ran on the rail transit claiming it was for the best that they don't get separated as Ran was very young and Brad a tourist. These with a myriad of other ploys did Brad use on him.

Ran allowed that the full body hug he was enveloped feeling stranger and stranger as the moments passed. Then Brad tilted Ran's face to meet his in a kiss that had completely ravished Ran's senses. When he had been able to gather his scattered wits it was to utter only a token protest only.

"Brad-niisan, don't…onegai." Ran said weakly, lacking any sort of conviction. At that moment, as is now, Ran abandoned all control. He gave his body and his heart in full measure.