Nagi paced restlessly until he heard the sound of Brad’s car pulling up in the drive. On the couch, Schuldig raised his head and then lowered it again, his shoulders slumped in defeat. “We’re on our own kid.”
“Haven’t we always been?”
Farfarello nodded, "Yes, but this time it's different. Before we were just trying to escape the clutches of the Elders, now..." Berserker glanced at Schuldig, "we're going to face everything Rosenkruez throws at us. And since Brad says there is no way for us to survive without Weiss..." he shrugged, "we're going to die."
“I still don’t see what those four mundanes could offer us,” Nagi retorted, “unless as human shields and that wouldn’t work against mental attacks.” He walked towards Farfarello, head held high belying the feeling of despair in his belly. When he reached his psychotic lover he grabbed the back of his head and pressed desperate lips to his. “Then we die together,” he whispered through the kiss.
Farfarello wrapped his arms around the boy and returned the kiss, nipping at his lover's lower lip as he did so.
The door opened and Crawford entered the house. He glanced at the two locked in an impassioned kiss. There was nothing in his gaze. Nothing at all but complete emptiness.
"We have one chance to survive," the Oracle announced. "It's not promising, but I thought I'd tell you what it is and let you decide."
“Tell us, vater. One chance is better than none at all.”
He met Schuldig's gaze squarely as he said, "We three go back to Rosenkreuz and return to being their toys and Nagi goes to Weiss and asks for sanctuary."
“NO!” Nagi felt like he’d screamed out the word but knew he hadn’t. He’d whispered it because he was having the fight of his young life hanging on to his equilibrium. If he lost control of that he could kill them all and save the rest of the bastards out there the bother. “I won’t leave you.”
Brad closed the distance between them and backhanded the boy hard enough to take the slender teen off his feet. "You'll do what you're told to do!" he snarled, hating what he'd just done, and hating the lie he'd just told to the boy.
The three of them could go back to Rosenkreuz, crawling on their knees like dogs, but it wouldn't matter. They'd be killed for what they'd done, one way or another who they were now would die.
Nagi raised a hand to his face before climbing off the floor. He stared at the man who’d been the only father he’d ever known or wanted. *You never could lie to us worth a damn,* he said softly into their link, careful to keep Schuldig and Farfarello out of it. He fought hard not to cry, to show weakness, to smash the room into match sized smithereens. *You’re all the family I have and I don’t want to live without you.*
Crawford glowered at Farfarello and Schuldig, "Both of you, get out!"
The Berserker didn't know what the American was doing to his lover, but that tone of voice sent him out of the room quickly. There was nothing the Irishman really feared... but he knew from past experience that a pissed off Oracle wasn't something he wanted to deal with.
Brad grabbed the boy by his still too narrow shoulders and shook him violently, his own helplessness and frustration coming to the forefront as he confronted the boy who was the closest thing he had to a son. *You're the only one that matters! You're why we broke from Esset and Rosenkreuz! It was for you, damn it and I'm not going to let them have you!*
Now he could cry, could show the misery he felt inside. So it was with tears streaming down his face that he murmured aloud, “Please, let me die with you. I don’t have the strength to go on alone.”
Brad picked Nagi up and carried him to the couch where he sat down and held the boy close, his eyes half closed as he remembered finding him. Dirty and half starved, lost and alone in a filthy alleyway.
"Please, Nagi," he whispered, "don't take this from me. You have to live so I know everything I've done wasn't in vain."
Skinny arms wrapped round his neck and Nagi leaned his head against Brad’s chest. “Very well,” he said on a gasping breath. He took a few moments to regain control of himself, “though I can’t see Weiss taking me in. Fujimiya hates me and I detest them.”
Brad held the boy the way he'd never done before, his hand stroking down Nagi's back, trying to imagine what it would have been like if they'd had a chance to be a family, a real family, the way he'd always wanted them to be.
Foolish dreams thwarted by the cruel touch of a Fate none of them could escape.
None of them but Nagi.
"Don't ask Fujimiya. Ask Kudoh." He kissed the top of Nagi's head, "He'll convince them you're worth keeping."
Nagi glanced up at that. He thought back to the only other time that Brad had laid a finger on him, when he was making a fool of himself over Tot. He vaguely remembered Kudoh thinking they were both dead and putting her hand in his. The man had a kind streak no matter what face he might show to the world.
“Okay,” he said. “How… how long do we have?”
"Just tonight. I want you well gone from us when they come to take us." That at least was true. He wanted Nagi well gone before either Rosen or DSS caught up with them.
Nagi wiped at his eyes with the back of his hand. “So soon and there’s no way we can just keep running I guess?” There was the slightest vestige of hope in his voice.
"They'll catch us somewhere and then there won't be any hope for any of us, Nagi." The American's voice was calm, steady, but inside he felt hollow. Everything he'd worked for was coming apart and he couldn't do anything but send Nagi away and hope that the boy would survive because, even though he was telling Nagi he would be okay, it wasn't certain.
A lot would depend on Kudoh, and, even Weiss knew better than to rely completely on their playboy team mate. It was a last ditch hope, just as the subliminal mental message Brad had gotten Schuldig to implant all those weeks ago had been. It had been worth the attempt, that little bit of mental manipulation to get Kudoh make an effort to encourage Weiss to join them and he had to attribute the failure to Fujimiya's stubbornness.
Nagi nodded, realizing the truth when he heard it. “Tsukiyono might just put in a word for me,” he said trying to put a brave face on things, “we sort of talk in chat rooms. He doesn’t seem that bad. It’s just a pity you let Schu and Farf play with him. If they hadn’t he might have seen the sense in joining forces with us.”
"Go and talk to them. Beg for us if you think it will do any good. I'll..." Brad held the boy tighter, "do anything. Tell them that." he was fighting the growing desperation, trying to retain his cool, but all he could see for his own future was the darkness of finality. The cold embrace of Death.
It wasn't that he really feared dying. What he hated was not knowing what would happen to Nagi.
“I’ll go now,” Nagi said. “Tell Farf… never mind.” He didn’t dare pursue that line of thought or the tears would start to flow again. “If I can’t convince them to take me, what do I do?” He would try for all of them but he knew he would fail, knew this was the end of Schwarz.
"If they won't take you, then..." Brad let the boy go, "run. You've got access to all of my accounts. You'll stand a chance on your own that you wouldn't have with us."
Nagi nodded solemnly and climbed off Brad’s lap. The account numbers were in his head and access to a computer would give him access to them. Anything else he needed he could buy.
He didn’t say goodbye, he couldn’t. Instead he turned his back on his ‘father’ and walked away. A few moments later the front door shut softly behind him.
Brad took off his glasses and leaned back on the couch, letting a few silent tears slip from beneath his closed eyes.
This was it. The end of the line.
The end of Schwarz.
* * * * * * *
Kate glanced up as Jas returned from shepherding Weiss. She was just about to ask if there had been any problems when a strange look in his eyes stopped her. The tilt of his head told her he was listening to his ghostly sister but he seemed somewhat unnerved by whatever he thought she was saying.
“Anything wrong, Jas?” she asked instead.
The blond killer's lips twisted into a nasty grimace. He spun on the ball of his foot and started for the door he'd just entered. "Schwarz. They've sent Naoe to try and join up with Weiss. And Crawford was there too. They must be close by. Fuck. Tell Kei. I'm going back."
Kate lost no time in finding Kei simply because she knew exactly where he was, playing chess with Issei. She passed Jas’s message on and waited to see if he wanted them all to move.
Kei was still in his riding leathers since he hadn't been back at the house for more than a half an hour and now it looked as if he'd be in them for the rest of the day, and most likely part of the night too.
He sighed and got to his feet. "Kate, I want you and Tsuki to come with me. Issei, you stay behind and keep Hisato out of trouble. Don't let Aki build any more timing devices in the living room either. One was more than enough this week."
Issei smiled slightly at the remark about Aki but nodded his agreement.
Kate went to drag Tsuki away from his computers, which wasn’t nearly as difficult as she’d expected it to be. The hacker was only too pleased to be given the chance to go with them. They both changed into mission clothes in record time and were downstairs and ready to go within moments.
Aki was sitting in the living room looking decidedly unhappy, while Kei had a stern expression on his face that showed he'd already told Aki more than once that he couldn't go.
He looked up at the two who'd just entered. "Good, let's go." He didn't wait for an answer, just started for the back door and the car park where their bikes were.
They followed him quickly, Kate only stopping to pick up her rifle on the way and slip it into the specially designed carrier on her bike. There was the sound of roaring engines and then they were on their way. Kei activated the comm unit in his helmet, "We need to move fast. Jas has a ten minute head start and we've got to get there fast or he might do something I'll have to kill him for."
“You want Naoe alive?” If that was the case, Kate wasn’t wholly surprised. The kid had a rare and very useful talent if he could be persuaded to use it against the organization he had once served. Also she could remember no occasions when the kid had killed. Reduced a mansion to so much rubble and, possibly, brought a half-witted girl back from death. She grimaced behind her visor. Best not to let Jas know that story.
"If possible, yes, I'd like to recruit him. It was the rest of them that weren't viable." Kei muttered as they were forced to slow for heavy traffic, "We're going to have to watch Jas. He's more erratic this year than I've ever seen him and it's probably because of Weiss' impending integration into our team. This couldn't have come at a worse possible time."
“You’re sure Weiss will integrate? I didn’t see Kudoh or Tsukiyono but Fujimiya is used to running the show and might not want to give that up.” She maneuvered the heavy bike round a parked delivery truck with the ease of a master.
Tsuki ventured a remark. “They’re very much a team, more than that even, they seem to know exactly what moves the others will make.”
"They didn't like their lives under the thumb of Kritiker, but they did their jobs anyway. And yes, they do work well together... when nothing is ruining their mission focus.
"I think they'll do what they have to in order to stay alive. If not..." he let his words trail off as they both knew exactly what he was getting at.
Kate fell silent as she rode, wondering what Jas’s reaction to Prodigy was going to be. She knew what it was likely to be and that could easily get him killed. Although she’d never heard of the telekinetic actually attacking anyone she also knew that he was quite capable of doing so in self-defense.
She frowned to herself as a new thought struck her. Why the hell had Jas gone rushing back like a mad thing? Unless he had gone to protect the Weiss redhead.
That thought made her snigger as Fujimiya didn’t strike her as someone who actually needed protecting.
The small sound came over Tsuki’s head piece and he turned to take a quick glance at her, wondering what was so funny.
"We'd better make time once we get on the highway. I don't want to get up there and find out that he's killed anyone we need," Kei muttered into his headset. "I worry that he might accidentally take out part of Weiss. You know how much he hates change. Look how he still ignores Tsuki."
If he was honest Tsuki was rather glad that Jas still ignored him. The blond was scary in ways that Kei simply wasn't unless he was pissed at you. But then it seemed to him that Jas ignored just about everyone bar Kei and Kate.
“Frankly, Kei, Jas has the social skills of an amoeba,” Kate retorted. “Sure he communicates with you and me, but he doesn’t really talk. I know more about Tsuki’s likes and dislikes than I do about Jas’s. Hell, the man won’t even tell me what he does and doesn’t like to eat!” Although watching what he left on his plate, when he was eating at all, had taught her a lot.
"I know. It's something I wish we had a solution to, but..." they could hear him sigh through the comm, "I can't even begin to guess what to do, except see how this whole thing with him and Fujimiya plays out. Gods help us, but I think we're going to see a lot of fireworks between those two before they sort themselves out."
Kate grinned behind her visor. The fireworks might just do both men some good. Fujimiya seemed almost as repressed as Jas so it was going to be an interesting few months.
“Seems to me they both strive for a perfection they can’t quite reach then sink into depression and self-loathing for their apparent weakness,” Tsuki offered. He’d never actually met Fujimiya but he’d done a great deal of research on Weiss and had been struck by his similarities to Jas.
“Throw the much beloved sisters into the mix and they’re almost clones,” Kate agreed.
"Except Jas' sister is dead and talks to him, and Fujimiya's sister is alive and probably hates him by now thanks to Kritiker," Kei added as they approached the highway.
“Either way, they’ve both lost them, just as I lost my brother.” Having said that, Kate clammed up and concentrated on eating up the miles. Peter’s death still hurt as it had been so needless.
"I always hoped that you'd be able to help him, but..." Kei left off the part where he'd hoped Jas could help Kate. But Jas was so distanced, so emotionally and mentally isolated in his own pain that he couldn't reach out to anyone for help.
They reached the highway ramp Kei gunned his bike, vainly hoping they'd be able to catch up with the blond somewhere on the highway.
* * * * * * *
Nagi studied the farm for a moment or two before approaching any closer. He had teleported here and that always left him needing to replenish his talent before using it again and he wanted to be as strong as someone as upset as he was could be when facing Weiss.
Kudoh.
Kudoh was the key. Straightening his shoulders he stepped forward and marched up to the front door. Should he knock or simply open it? Better to knock, he supposed. Weiss were jumpy at the best of times. He rapped on the wood.
Ken opened the door and just stared for a second.
First Crawford had walked through the place without a word to either him or Omi, and now this.
"What do you want?"
He knew this had been a bad idea. “Crawford sent me. He wants me to seek sanctuary with you. He intends to…” He rubbed impatiently at the water stinging his eyes. “He says alone I have a chance. The others don’t.”
Ken frowned, "Well this isn't a monastery so we don't do sanctuary."
Nagi nodded. It was no more than he’d expected. I did try, Brad. He turned to walk away, shoulders drooping. Once again he was on his own.
Ken shoved the door closed and turned to go back to the kitchen where Omi was making them something for dinner.
"Who was there?" Yohji asked from the vicinity of the living room couch where he'd parked himself after his encounter with Aya.
"No one important," Ken replied and walked past the blond.
Yohji just gave his younger team mate a sour look and shoved himself up off the couch muttering about pig-headed ex-goalies. He pulled the door open to find Nagi walking away.
"Hey, kid. Crawford won't give up will he? What did he send you to tell us now?"
Nagi spun round, eyes blazing in the – almost – impassive face. “That he’s going to sacrifice himself, Schu and Farf, just so you smug, self-righteous bastards can live to fight another day!” It would really not be a good idea to pull their nice farm down round their ears but oh it was tempting.
Hearing the commotion, Omi came to peer out into the darkness. “Who is it Yohji-kun?” He spotted Nagi and blinked. “Um… there’s enough dinner for five if you want some,” he offered. Then he smiled. “You are ‘LonelyHeart’ aren’t you, Nagi?”
Yohji glanced at Omi, then turned his attention back on the Schwarz teen. "Take it easy, kid." He said as he took a hobbling step onto the porch. "And tell me what you mean. How is he sacrificing himself and--" he hesitated, reined in what he'd been about to say and ended with, "your team mates," rather than saying 'those bastard friends of yours' as he'd come close to doing.
“He’s going to either fight alone or give in to Rosenkreuz just to save their lives,” Nagi said, no longer caring about the tears that were streaming down his cheeks. “Of course either way they die, either quickly, or by having their personalities wiped and their minds twisted until they’re no longer them. I think they’ll fight and die rather than do that.”
He glanced at the two blonds on the farm’s porch. “He sent me here to offer my help to you and the team you’ve joined. If you don’t want it, then fine, I’ve managed alone before, I can do it again.”
Yohji glanced at Omi. "If you don't mind him being here, Omi, I'll vote to let him stay, but… Aya's not going to like it and well we already know what Ken had to say on it.”
“It’s not up to Ken, or me,” Aya’s deep voice said from the shadows of the hallway. “It’s up to our new masters to decide.” He stepped forward, carefully not looking at Yohji, his gaze steady on the telekinetic. Then he surprised everyone by saying, “I’m sorry.”
Yohji wished that apology was for him, but he wasn't that delusional even with a few shots of whiskey in him to dull the pain of memories he didn't want, and a rejection by a lover he hadn't quite had.
They'd been so close. So very close.
He backed away from the other two, "I need to sit down," he told them, using his ankle as an excuse to not be so close to Aya.
Outside Nagi was staring at Aya. He knew that Brad and the others had always had a lot of respect for the redhead, Brad even going so far as to say he was sure Aya had talent of some description. “Thank you,” he whispered. The platitude actually meant something on the lips of this particular kitten.
“So,” Omi said with his usual breeziness, “you’d better come in.”
Nagi glanced at Aya who nodded before frowning at the sound of a distant motorbike. “I think our personal bodyguard might be coming back.”
Yohji glanced down the road, "It might be a good idea to get the kid out of sight, don't you think? I mean if it's that blond asshole, it might not be a good idea for him to find Prodigy on our porch."
Omi beckoned to Nagi to follow him and went back into the farmhouse. Aya stepped aside so the telekinetic could enter. “Ignore Hidaka,” he advised. Then he turned all his attention on the road and the approaching motorbike.
Yohji followed the Schwarz boy into the house, "Go upstairs. You should be able to find the room that's mine. You can stay with me if you want, but either way, it might be a good idea for you to go on up until we make sure of who's coming."
Nagi solemnly nodded his agreement and climbed the stairs.
Outside, Aya watched the motorbike approach down the dirt drive. The shape of the lean body told him it was the blond back again and, when he pulled to a halt and pulled off his helmet he was proved right.
“You didn’t stay long enough to forget anything,” he said, “so what do you want?”
"Prodigy is here and he's not staying," Jas replied as he dismounted from his bike and pulled his helmet off.
He pulled out the katana concealed in the frame of his bike then started toward the farm house. "It's a good idea for you to stay out of my way. This might just get messy," the blond stated.
Of all the arrogant bastards this one was in a class of his own. Aya deliberately stepped in front of the blond his own katana hissing from its saya. “Yes, it might.”
Frost grey eyes narrowed.
No Jas, a voice in his head cried out.
But he wasn't listening to her right now. All he wanted to do was take the annoying red-haired man down.
"If that's how you want it..." the blond whispered his tone full of menace. Jas' katana sang through the air toward the former Weiss swordsman.
Aya easily blocked the blow with his saya although part of his mind admired the other man’s speed. Fast or not he wasn’t getting into the house to get himself killed by a frightened telekinetic. He swung his own sword one handed towards the blond’s side.
But Jas wasn't there; he'd evaded the sweep of Aya's katana, his own darting in going for the red-head's face.
Aya dodged back, fast as light, his katana having followed through from his own sweep, came up to protect his face. He didn’t think their new leader would be too happy if he actually killed this son of a bitch so he was relieved when he heard approaching motorbikes. He really hated fighting defensively.
The saya swept out and struck the blond’s shins.
There was a harsh smile on the blond's mouth as the saya struck his shins. In the protection of the heavy motorcycle boots he didn't even feel it.
"Nice try, kitty," he said and stepped inside Aya's guard, their swords locking, metal grating sharply as he exerted force, trying to drive the slender man backward.
But there was surprising strength in that slender body and Aya held his ground. “For a gaigun you’re reasonably good,” he acknowledged. Then he flicked out his other hand and hit Jas over the head with the saya. “But I fight dirty.”
"So do I," the blond said as he shoved harder against the other man, then drove a knee into Aya's groin.
The leather coat and pants did little to stop the pain but Aya was renowned for his focus and now was no different. Quick as thought he hooked a foot round the leg Jas was standing on and took it out from under him. There was nowhere for the blond to go except sideways onto the ground.
The point of Aya’s katana was immediately at the blond’s throat although there was a faint gleam of respect in the cold lilac eyes.
Omi and Ken, who had come out on the porch to both watch and as second line defense, were amazed to see Aya remove the point of his katana from the other man’s throat, bend over him and kiss him fiercely.
Jas froze. The kiss burned through him, sent a jolt of desire right to his groin and he moaned and reached up to grip the red hair at the nape of the Weiss swordsman's neck, trying to pull Aya down on top of him.
Dimly he was aware that his sister was laughing with delight.
Upstairs a pair of jade green eyes regarded the scene below with no little anger and a great deal of pain. "So would the odds change for Schwarz if I join up with you?" Yohji asked as he let the pain burn deep, let it rip his heart to shreds, purging himself of the man he could never have.
Nagi gazed at the tall blond, a hint of compassion in his dark blue eyes. He knew what it felt like to leave a lover and a father behind. “Not enough,” he said sadly. “And even if all four of you had joined us, I seriously doubt that we’d have had the power to take on all our enemies.”
He glanced out of the window as three more motorbikes drew to a halt in the farmyard.
“With them we stand a chance,” he said, “but it’s too late for Crawford, Schuldig and Farfarello. They are already too damaged and tired.”
"I know the feeling, kid" Yohji replied, his voice bitter. "I know it all too well."
Nagi turned then, his expression stormy. “No,” he said, “you don’t. You weren’t taken from your family by force when still a child. You weren’t put through the most sadistic and evil ‘training’ of your talent until you had little humanity left then sent out to use it to your masters’ greater glory.”
The expression faded. “You’re tired and hurting and that I can relate to, but you’re not damaged in the way they are.”
Yohji turned around and regarded the boy through hooded eyes, "No I wasn't. I was forced to try and live up to expectations I could never meet no matter how hard I tried. I lost my love, nearly died, and wound up working for Kritiker where I fell in love with someone that doesn't love me. We've all got our own crosses, kid. You, them, me." He shrugged, "Learning to kill for Kritiker wasn't a party, but it's all I know how to do. That and make half-assed flower arrangements."
“And how to wallow in self pity,” Nagi added ruthlessly. “Nevertheless, thank you for taking me in and for trying to protect me.” His attention turned back to the window. The bike riders had dismounted and were approaching the house. He knew it was the one with the red and black hair he had to impress and waited developments, true feelings hidden behind his impassive front.
"Brad's an expert in that, isn't he? Self-pity. I guess seeing the future makes that pretty easy. You can just see what's going to happen and give up," Yohji snapped back. "So much for promising to keep us safe from RK."
Yohji limped away from the window. "It's so nice to be loved," he snarled as he headed for the stairs.
“Don’t,” Nagi said softly. “Please, don’t.”
He followed the blond, knowing that now was the time to show himself to the newcomers.
Kei got off his bike and regarded the odd tableau with a mix of amusement and wariness. There were two possible ways this could go, and one would be messy and require he step in while the other one... well it could get equally messy but in a very different way.
Jas was still on the ground regarding Aya with puzzled confusion. He'd let another man kiss him. More to the point he'd enjoyed it enough to return the kiss.
"Do you always kiss the men you defeat?" he asked Aya.
Aya, looking equally confused, shook his head. “Normally I kill them,” he said truthfully. He knew he ought to apologise for his rash action but he was damned if he was going to as he’d enjoyed the kiss far too much. Instead he got to his feet and reached out a hand for the blond to take if he should want to.
Meanwhile, Kate’s attention was on the farm and the two young men who looked as if they’d been sandbagged. She smiled to herself until movement at the doorway resolved itself into Kudoh and the telekinetic. Kudoh looked distraught and she realised that he too must have seen the strange ending to the fight. She studied him and decided that she could like what she was seeing if he pulled out of self-destruct mode.
Jas took the offered hand and stood there looking at the red-haired swordsman with a tinge of new found respect in his grey eyes. Without warning Jas threw an arm around the other man and kissed him fiercely.
Yohji ignored what was going on with Aya and the asshole and hobbled out onto the porch, setting one hand on Ken's shoulder to steady himself.
"Sorry about the ankle," Ken mumbled.
"Yeah, whatever," Yohji replied sourly.
Ken glanced at Omi with one eyebrow raised in question, as if asking the other teen if he had any idea what was going on between Yohji and Aya this time.
Omi merely shrugged and shook his head at Ken’s unspoken question. Nagi caught his attention then and he smiled reassuringly at him. If the people on the bikes didn’t want the telekinetic he would do his best to make sure he was allowed to walk away at least.
Strange how he had never blamed Nagi for what had happened to Ouka. The rest of Schwarz he hated with a passion, but the other teen had become almost a friend of sorts.
Nagi didn’t smile but did nod back. Then his eyes, like everyone else’s, were drawn to the inconceivable sight of Aya and the DSS blond locked in a passionate clinch. He blinked back tears as he thought of his lost Farf.
Aya’s arms had gone round Jas and he had returned his kiss, their tongues warring for dominance in the same way as they had fought for it. A strange thought crossed his mind. Finally he had met his equal. It excited him and he suddenly had some hope for the future.
Jas held the other man tighter, refusing to be the one to give ground in their battle. Their tongues were locked as fiercely as their swords had been, and the blond wondered if sex would be like this, a war of wills.
He didn't know, but he suspected from the way the red-haired man was holding him that the Weiss killer had more experience in that arena than he did.
Jas moved a hand from Aya's back to the man's crotch and shoved his hand inside the man's mission coat. Aya's cock was as hard as his own was, and he rubbed it with the flat of his palm. He could feel Aya's pulse even through the leather pants he wore.
Kei was watching the two men aware that he'd seldom seen anything so hot as the pair of killers kissing passionately. He'd also never expected to see Jas doing it.
He turned to Kate, "That explains a lot, don't you think?" he asked her via comm, not wanting to remind the men they had quite an audience.
Yohji couldn't breathe, his chest feeling as if it was full of concrete, and the only thought that bubbled to the surface of his brain was the desire to kill the son of a bitch who was taking his Aya from him. Tears blurred his vision and he took a step forward, his hand going for his watch.
Instead of following through with that motion Yohji turned and went inside the farm house because he'd thought of a better solution to the pain tearing him apart.
Kei frowned. "Kate, I don't think anyone else noticed, but Kudoh just went inside, and I don't think he went in just to have a beer. Go keep him from doing anything stupid, please. I'll watch to make sure these two don't go back to fighting with their katanas instead of their mouths."
Kate nodded and stepped around the still oblivious couple. Talk about lust at first sight! It might just be what both of them needed, a release from the constant loneliness. She supposed that Kudoh had hoped to be that release for Fujimiya and she wasn’t quite sure why he wasn’t. He was every bit as attractive as Jas and, although he had as many hang-ups, they weren’t the repressed sort that Silence suffered from.
She took off her helmet and gave Naoe Nagi a brief smile as she went. His pain would have to wait. Luckily he was a lot more stoical than Kudoh.
She entered the farmhouse to find Kudoh throwing his wire over a convenient beam. Thinking quickly she took two running steps forward before a roundhouse kick connected with his solar plexus effectively knocking him away from the wire and all the wind out of him at the same time.
“Don’t be a damned fool!”
Yohji lay there on the floor where he fell, coughing from having his breath knocked out of himself, too emotionally numb to do more than let a few tears seep out of his eyes.
It had been so close. He'd almost had what he wanted most in life. Aya.
He felt hollow. As if he were nothing but a corpse struggling for life when only death remained.
He finally sat up and looked at the person who'd stopped him from ending it.
A woman. One of the DSS killers. He thought she went by the name of Shadow. Without being aware that he was doing it, Yohji took in her sleek shape and the beauty of her face. In her way she was as beautiful as Aya. He didn't even know he was staring into her eyes. Eyes as green as his own. Bright as warm sunlight through the leaves of a tree.
"I've been a damned fool my whole life, why change that now?" he asked her softly as he looked away.
“Perhaps because your life has changed,” she suggested. “Tell me to mind my own business if you like, but was that little demonstration in the yard the reason for this?” She indicated the dangling wire. “If it was… I’m sorry but if Fujimiya is as much like Jas as I think he is, it would never have worked.” She frowned at another thought.
“Anyway, according to your dossier, you’re supposed to be straight.” And why the hell did it matter to her?
"Not quite straight," he murmured, not really talking to her. "Just not attracted to most men. Aya..." he sighed, "was different from the first time I saw him. So cold and untouchable. Deadly grace that took my breath away and so beautiful at the same time. I fell for him hard and it made any thought of sleeping with other men pointless. I knew there was no one else like him, no other man would take his place in my heart." He gave a bitter laugh, "It was stupid for me to ever admit that to him. I'd say he doesn't give a shit how he's made me feel, how much..." his voice broke and he just shook his head. He'd gotten a taste of his Heaven only to have it taken away.
"My life never changes except to get worse. I'm sick of the downhill spiral." He was staring at nothing, but what he was seeing was Aya locked in an impassioned embrace with the man he knew as Silence. Of all the pain he'd ever felt in his life, this was the worst, right on par with Asuka's death.
So something had happened between the two men and within the last few hours if she was any judge. If that was the case Fujimiya sank quite considerably in her estimation. To give someone a taste of what they wanted and then snatch it away again was cruelty of a kind that only Jas would consider. The two were well suited.
“Sometimes it helps just to talk to someone who will listen,” she said, “someone else who understands pain.”
Yohji shook his head. "I tried that," he replied despondently. "And I thought he understood... but I was wrong. So very wrong."
He pushed himself to his feet, glanced at the wire that was still draped over the beam then pulled it down, ran it through his hands for a moment then rolled it up and shoved it into his pocket. There was no sense in letting Aya know just how much he'd been hurt. All he'd get would be more grief with Aya telling him how much of a fool he was.
And he was a fool for telling Aya how much he wanted the younger man. A damned fool.
"When you're in hell, don't fall in love with any of the devils," he muttered as he limped toward the kitchen with the intention of drinking every beer he had left. It was easier than dealing with the pain. Even when it was pain he'd known was coming.
He hadn't believed.
But Crawford had never lied to him.
Unlike a certain red-head who'd claimed to at least want him.
Kate sighed. There was nothing further she could do for now. She followed Kudoh into the kitchen and noticed with some satisfaction that there were only a couple of cans of beer left in the fridge. He wouldn’t be able to get too drunk but whether that was a good or bad thing she wasn’t quite sure.
She turned away, intending to give Naoe some comfort, only to find the boy talking to Tsukiyono. As long as the tiny blonde wasn’t as poisonous as the rest of his family he shouldn’t do any harm.
She went back into the living room pulling the comm unit from her helmet as she went and fitting it to her ear. “All clear in here… for now,” she reported quietly, “though Fujimiya has really done a number on Kudoh. It might be wise to separate them for a while.”
"I think we'll move Fujimiya into the house with us. He's really the one I'm most interested in anyway. He and Jas are going to want time together and I think that will be good for them both. It will also get Abyssinian well away from Balinese," Kei replied to her via comm. He still hadn't taken his helmet off.
Jas stepped away from Aya and just stood there regarding him coolly. His heart was racing, the blood hammering through his groin urgently. It surprised him how much he wanted the other man, and he had the ingrained desire to fight the attraction.
But that would mean turning tail and running, and he'd never liked to run from a fight. Retreat and regroup, yes. But turn tail and run, no.
Ken leaned close to Omi and whispered, "Hey, didn't you tell me Yohji is in love with Aya?"
Omi turned worried blue eyes to his lover. “Yes,” he said sadly. He was pleased to notice that the clinch had finally come to an end and both men were motionless, staring solemnly at each other. His heart sank as he thought of Yohji’s unrequited love for the redhead because what he was seeing between the two was nothing short of electric.
Tsuki shifted uncomfortably, not sure why he was here even. He was no use with distraught people, that skill was Kate’s forte; he wasn’t any good in a sword fight either. He should have stayed home with his computers.
Kei turned to Tsuki, still speaking through his comm. "I want you to go in and help Tsukiyono and Naoe set up the computers in the house. Take your time and make sure they're set up with the highest security configuration you know. I'm going to need them to do some digging in their old organizations databases."
He considered it for a moment, switched to private mode between himself and Shadow, then said, "Kate, why don't you stay here and just hang around, get to know our new team mates a bit. I'll want a report on their state of mind... especially Kudoh when you come back. He's even more unstable than Jas and that worries me. I'm afraid he'll be more of a liability than an aid to us, and we just can't afford to harbor any liabilities. If he is, you know what has to be done. Be discreet." He made it a point to tell her what he expected of her should Kudoh prove too unstable.
"Mount up Jas, and bring your new friend," Kei ordered. "Kate and Tsuki will be staying here for a while."
Aya stared at the helmeted figure. He felt like he’d just woken from a dream and that bothered him. “I can’t just leave,” he said, “what if Crawford comes back?” His eyes widened as he realized what Crawford’s uninvited visit had done and he took an involuntary step towards the house only to be held back by a strong arm. The frisson that ran through him at the touch told him exactly whose arm it was.
“I understand,” Kate said into her comm before taking it off and heading for the kitchen. Somebody had started to prepare dinner by the looks of things so she continued the preparations adding enough rice to feed two more mouths.
Tsuki removed his helmet after nodding his acquiescence. At least his presence made sense now. He entered the house, smiling at the three young men on the porch as he did so.
Jas tightened his grip around the red-head, enjoying the feel of restraining the other man, of denying him something he wanted even if it was just to retreat from the situation. Jas pressed his face into the other man's hair, took a deep breath and let it out so it ruffled Aya's hair, tickling his ear. "You can and you will" he murmured, voice gone soft and sexy without him even realizing it. "Kei doesn't accept questions to any of his orders, so you'd better get used to that right now."
"And don't worry about Crawford. The people here are capable of handling themselves, and he's not interested in them anyway. It's you he's after. He'll come where you are." The man grinned fiercely, "And if he bothers to show up I'll have a special welcome ready just for him."
He pulled the swordsman toward his bike. "Come on, Kei isn't going wait for us."
And Kei wasn't. He'd already started his bike and was turning it around, ready to leave.
“I’m not going all the way to Tokyo on that!”
"Yes you..." Jas stumbled and fell hard against Aya. "Shit... oh shit..."
He let Aya go and ran for his bike. "Schwarz is at the house. Those bastards have attacked us!" he snarled.
“Wait!” Nagi shouted. “Let me come with you, I might be able to stop them.”