"You...you recognise me?"
Yohji took a deep breath. This was not going to be easy. He never had been able to keep things from Aya. "I think we need to talk."
"I was going to approach you in that bar you frequent after work."
"You really believe I'm going to work with you here?" He grabbed Aya's wrist and shook him a little in frustration. "Why did you come?"
"I had to." And now Aya was glaring at him.
"There's a lot to explain..." He thought fast. He couldn�t take Aya home or to work. "Can we go wherever it is you're staying?" Aya gave a curt nod and Yohji felt some of both his tension and Aya's relax.
"It's in town."
Yohji chuckled slightly. "Still one for as few words as possible, Aya?"
"Yes."
Yohji let go of him, almost reluctantly, and resumed walking towards the station. Aya fell into step next to him, apparently content to wait until they reached his hotel.
On the train, Yohji tried to get his thoughts in order. Aya had been the last person that he'd expected his stalker to be and now he wasn't at all sure how he felt about the man being here. He had a lot to tell him, a lot to explain, and yet he had no idea where he was going to start.
All too soon they reached Aya's upmarket hotel and took the elevator up to his room. Yohji looked around him appreciatively. "Wow! How the other half live.."
Aya sighed as he threw his key down on the table by the bed and turned, crossing his arms. "Cut the crap, Yohji."
Yohji gestured at the room's only chair. "Mind if I sit down?"
"No."
Yohji sat down, drew out a pack of cigarettes, then thought better of it and put them back in his pocket. "Where do you want me to start?"
"I have no idea, Yohji. I was told you had no memory of any of us."
The hurt look in those beautiful eyes made Yohji wince inwardly. He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "For a week or two that was the truth. I came to with a sword and no memory. I was set up with a new identity that I thought was mine and I fell for one of my nurses. When it started coming back and I realised what I'd been... It was hard, Aya." His hands strayed to his cigarettes again.
"You may as well light one." Aya�s deep voice was hard, cold.
"Thank you." He lit the cigarette with surprisingly steady hands considering he felt like the bottom was falling out of his stomach. "One of the things I remembered, one of the earlier things, was what I'd said to Ken when he tried to leave with that Yuriko girl and I realised I was going to do the same thing. No matter how stained in blood I was, I was going to escape. When Omi came on one of his visits I let him know that some of it had come back but that I couldn't go on. He agreed and promised to help me set up a life with that new identity. Then, two nights before I married Asuka, I remembered whose sword it was, who you were and what you meant."
"I called Omi, told him that I'd changed my mind and that I couldn't go through with the wedding and wanted to find you. He told me...he said you had died in New York and that Ken had left the country." And even now, with a living, breathing Aya sitting on the hotel bed and listening, the pain of that conversation with Omi lanced through him.
"He didn't lie to you, Yohji. I did nearly die in New York. If it hadn't been for Yuki and Allison...and my current employer. So you married?"
"Yes, I married Asuka. I thought it was the only choice I had after...that." He lit another cigarette and sighed. "All I had of you was the katana. Asuka hated it because I spent so much time looking after it, wouldn't be parted from it. Then Ken came. Omi warned me he was coming and that it would be best for all concerned if he continued to think I had no memory of him. I...I gave him your sword and I realised that you must be alive somewhere and... Asuka could see I was upset and told them to leave me alone from now on. Then you came and turned everything upside down again."
"When you told Omi that you'd changed your mind, did you just mean about marrying Asuka?"
"No. I wanted to find you, Aya. I wanted to keep my promise."
"That's not what I meant. You know my lifestyle, Yohji. What I do for a living. Did you want all that back?"
"If it meant finding you, yes."
"Even though you told me you wanted to forget?"
Yohji ran his hands through his hair and sighed. "Kritiker always insisted on sending me after the damned women. I never wanted to be a killer of women. I wanted to protect them, you know?"
Aya nodded. "I know, but none of the rest of us could charm them the way you could."
Yohji looked up. "If I could go back, would I be expected to do the same again?"
"I don't know what Kritiker would expect from you."
That seemed like a very odd comment for Aya to make. "Oh come on, Aya, you've always made a point of knowing what they expect."
"You don't understand, Yohji. I no longer work for Kritiker."
Well that was a fucking bombshell and no mistake. "So, who do you work for?"
"You know better than to ask that question. I couldn't tell you even if I wanted to, which I don't."
"Why are you here, Aya?"
Aya gazed down at his hands, flushing slightly. "I wanted to be sure that you were happy and settled in your new life. I wanted to be able to move on."
Suddenly Yohji was angry. He remembered with painful clarity the number of times the man across the room had pushed him away. "You wanted closure. Is that why you sent Ken for the damned sword?"
"No...I...Mamoru thought it best that I stayed away. If I'd known..."
"Mamoru thought...but he knew I'd made a promise to you. He knew I wanted to keep the sword if you were dead. It was Ken coming for it that made me realise you were alive." He sighed. "I'm not happy, Aya. I got everything I thought I wanted and now I don't want any of it. But there's nothing I can do about it. Mamoru pulls all my strings."
Aya looked up, suddenly intent. "Then cut the strings, Yohji."
Was it really that easy? There was nowhere in Japan that he could go without Kritiker knowing. "How, Aya? How do I cut the strings?"
"I might be able to help you. Do you love your...wife?"
Yohji gave a small bark of humourless laughter. "Love? I hate the bitch. We sleep in separate rooms just in case I wake up in the night and try to strangle her. I did try once..." He shook his head. "I doubt if I'll ever trust another woman. I trust you, though. I always have."
"Even when I let Weiss down or went away after killing Takatori?"
"Even then, Aya. You were always driven. I understood that." He would have said more but at that moment the phone rang. Aya gave it a surprised frown before picking it up.
* * * * * * *
Seeing Yohji again, talking to him, was seriously undermining Aya's common sense. He did, however, know that nobody should be phoning him. He picked up the phone, held it to his ear and listened.
"Fujimiya-san, there is a party of gentlemen to see you in reception."
Aya's eyes narrowed. "Did they say what they wanted?"
"No, sir, but one of them is Takatori-san."
"I see. I'll come down." He replaced the phone and stared thoughtfully at Yohji for a moment. "Mamoru doesn't waste any time, does he?"
"He's here?"
"So reception have just told me." He stood up and prepared to go downstairs.
"What if it's a trap?"
He turned to stare at Yohji, his eyes focused and cold, before he pulled aside his jacket to show the gun nestled in a shoulder holster. "I buy you the time to get the fuck out of here."
"I don't understand this, Aya. Why the fuck would Mamoru come here?" Yohji was asking in such a confused way as to make Aya realise just how long it was since the man had needed to focus.
"I've been in Japan for three days now. Do you think he wouldn't know that? Wait here. If I don't come back within ten minutes use the fire escape and go to work. You never saw me. Understood?" Yohji nodded much to his relief and he left the room.
Takatori Mamoru wasn't the only surprise waiting for him downstairs. With his one time friend were Chloe and Richard Krypton himself. Mamoru nodded and smiled but his eyes remained serious.
"We need to talk. Privately. I take it Yohji-kun is already here?"
Aya sighed, his eyes on his boss. KR seemed more amused than angry and he nodded his agreement to Mamoru's words.
"You'd better come up to my room, I guess," Aya said in resignation.
He took all three of them to the elevator, glancing at Chloe as he did so. He had trusted his Romanian team-mate and had seemingly been betrayed. Again. Yet Chloe merely shook his head in a signal to wait and see. What the hell was going on here?
When they reached his room he rapped on the door. "Yohji, it's okay. We're coming in."
Yohji opened the door and frowned out at them. At sight of Mamoru he groaned but held the door wide enough for all of them to enter.
Mamoru hadn't grown very much since his days as Tsukiyono Omi but his presence still dominated the room somehow. Now he stared at Yohji, his whole demeanour one of exasperation. Yohji shrugged and lit a cigarette in seeming nonchalance.
He sighed. "You'd all better sit down." He sat back on his bed and both Yohji and Chloe joined him there. Richard Krypton took the chair but Mamoru remained standing. His blue gaze moving from Yohji to rest on him.
"Why did you have to come to Japan, Aya-kun?"
The voice had changed too. Instead of Omi's sweet tone there was a hint of steel. Aya felt Yohji's hand on his and realised several things at once. He gave the hand a reassuring squeeze.
"I had to see for myself that Yohji was settled and happy. He's neither of those things." He felt Yohji's hand squeeze back.
Mamoru sighed. "You always did make things so difficult, Aya-kun. Now I'm not sure what I can do to save the situation."
"Save what 'situation' exactly?" Yohji was suddenly very focused and Aya could feel the anger thrumming through his body.
Mamoru turned his cold blue gaze on Yohji then. "Your situation, Yohji-kun. Don't you understand how many enemies you still have? Did you never stop to consider that you are protected around the clock?"
"What? No, that's impossible. I knew Aya was there within two days!"
"Because Aya was a new presence," Mamoru explained slowly as if talking to a child. "What about all the other commuters who just happened to be going to the station, who caught the same train, who worked in the same building? They were familiar presence�s, some of them there to keep you safe."
"I always managed to keep myself safe before."
"No, Yohji-kun, you were like a zombie on your last mission and for a few weeks, at least, you had no idea of who you were or what you'd been. Quite frankly you were a liability."
Yohji's eyes closed in pain at the truth in that but Aya glared at his former friend and team-mate. "Tsukiyono Omi would never have undermined a friend that way!"
"But I am not Tsukiyono Omi. I am Takatori Mamoru and I am responsible for what happens to Yohji-kun."
"If you are not Omi, then he's not Yohji-kun and I certainly will not accept such familiarity from a Takatori." He knew he was being petty but while Mamoru thought of them as kun he would treat them like teenagers or as if they were still his team-mates.
There was a flash of something that might have been pain in Mamoru's eyes but it was gone so quickly that Aya couldn't be certain. "As you wish Fujimiya-san. The new identity, job, apartment, all were set up while Yo...Kudoh-san was still amnesiac. When his memory returned you had disappeared, presumed dead, and Ke...Hidaka-san was in prison. I thought it best to let Kudoh-san grieve in the tranquillity of a normal life."
"Didn't I have any fucking say in the matter?" Yohji demanded.
"After your last mission, I couldn't risk another group by putting you with them." Mamoru's voice was all business.
"And when you discovered Aya was alive?"
"I saw no reason to upset you further."
Yohji jumped to his feet. "You little shit! What is it with your family? Do you enjoy making everyone else's life hell?"
Aya pulled him back down but not before noticing his hand had gone for his watch. The instincts were still there.
It seemed that KR had also noticed the move because he spoke up for the first time. "Takatori-san, with all due respect, I think you are too close to your former team-mates to think rationally about their futures. It seems to me that your 'protection' hasn't done any of them a great deal of good. With your permission I believe this problem can be resolved. If Kudoh-san agrees we can find a place for him in Side B."
Aya frowned at his boss and would have argued that Yohji should never have to kill again, that he had already done too much, but Chloe was shaking his head and trying to catch his eye.
"What's Side B?" Yohji demanded.
"Another Weiss," Mamoru snapped. "Is that what you want Yo...Kudoh-san? Do you want to kill again?"
Aya's eyes widened as Yohji turned his green gaze on him. "You're part of this, aren't you? This Side B? Then I accept."
"Yohji...I...are you sure?"
"I was never more sure of anything in my life."
"It would take a lot of arranging," Mamoru said. "We would have to make Asuka believe you were dead and..."
"Better I'm dead than she is," Yohji snapped. "Just make the arrangements you need to make."
"Then I have to insist that you all leave today. I can arrange for your money to be transferred to a bank of your choosing when you get to England."
Yohji shook his head. "Leave the money for her. She's earned it, having to put up with me." He glanced at KR. "I take it I can earn more."
KR nodded and stood up. "Aya, I'll give you ten minutes in which to pack and take your leave of Takatori-san. Chloe."
Chloe stood up and followed KR to the door after giving Aya a quick hug. "I was right, he is quite a guy."
Aya stood up also and started packing his suitcase. Now the decision was made, Yohji seemed pensive. He was about to ask again if he was sure when Mamoru spoke up.
"He was right. I was too close to protect any of you effectively. Yohji-kun, I'm sorry for not telling you all the truth before you married. But you'd seemed so positive that you wanted out... I'm sorry."
"Don't sweat it, Omi. I know you'd never deliberately hurt any of us."
"Actually, that's not true. I did deliberately hurt you all, in the mistaken belief that I was acting in your best interests."
Aya finished his packing and touched Yohji's arm. "Time to go." He turned to Takatori Mamoru. "You made your choice, Ken and I made ours but you denied Yohji that right until now. Whatever your motives..."
"I know, Aya-kun. I'm still learning that people are not pieces in a game. But this is the last time we'll meet. Can we part as friends?"
Aya was surprised at how forlorn Mamoru looked. His anger died away and he nodded. Yohji went one better and hugged him. "Goodbye, chibi. Take care of yourself."
Aya nodded again at Mamoru, picked up his case and walked out of the room. Yohji soon joined him and they headed down the hall to the elevator and a new life.
~TBC~