Aya didn’t know how many hours later he awoke, aching and sore with the pressing need to relieve himself. Careful not to wake Yohji, he slid out of the bed, pulled on sweatpants and headed for the privy.
A darker shadow in the back yard made him stop in the door way, peering out into the dark. The shadow resolved itself into Ken and he relaxed and headed for the outhouse.
The ex-goalie had spent the entire night standing outside in the chill air, hoping that the cold would take away some of the anger, but it hadn’t done anything to alleviate his fury.
If anything the long sleepless hours had only made his anger worse.
Ken watched Aya heading for the outhouse, bloodshot dark eyes narrowed, angry that Aya could treat Yohji so callously, sleep around like a whore the very day Yohji had nearly died to save his sister.
Aya needed to be taught a lesson, and he knew Kudoh didn’t have the guts to do it. Not to Aya. He loved the red-haired prick too much.
But Ken had no such compunctions.
Aya reached the outhouse, relieved himself and headed back to the house and the warmth of his bed and Yohji’s body. He nodded to Ken on the way, vaguely wondering what he was doing outside at this time of night.
A fist rocketed into Aya’s face, the bursting stars accompanied by Ken’s snarl of, “You fucking bastard!”
Aya staggered back a couple of paces, a hand going to his already battered face. “What the fuck?”
Ken glowered at his former leader, the dim sunlight of dawn showing the bruises and cuts that marked Aya’s face. Old and new. There was still dried blood clinging to the man’s mouth, smeared across his cheek.
Yeah, Aya must have had a great time with Crawford, he mused, full of anger for how he’d treated Yohji.
“I’ll tell you what the fuck!” Ken growled at him, “Yohji, the man who loves you more than he loves his own hide nearly dies for your fucking sister and what do you do? Do you stay with him, comfort him? Hell no, you go and fuck Crawford!” Ken stalked toward Aya, hands knotted into fists. “You fucking bastard I should kill you!”
“You don’t have the right,” Aya said coldly. “Only Yohji has the right to kill me.” A slight movement of his head as he spoke and a gust of wind lifting his hair away showed the wire mark on his neck.
“Now, if you’ve finished with the self-righteous bull crap I’d like to go back to him.”
A bright flash, the flare of a match being lit on the porch showed them that they weren’t alone an instant before a drawling voice said, “Very touching, Ken-Ken, but the day I need you to help me kill Aya is the day hell will freeze solid.”
Aya crossed the yard to his lover and then amazed Ken by kneeling at his feet, head bowed.
Ken stared, shocked speechless by what he was seeing as Yohji reached down to stroke Aya’s head, fingers ruffling through the red hair.
“It’s okay Ken, go up to bed and get some rest. The war between Aya and I is over.”
The brunet shook his head, seeing in the bright glow of the cigarillo that Yohji was smoking that the blonde’s face was as much of a mess as Aya’s. “Okay, Yohji.”
Still shaking his head Ken went inside heading for Nagi and his own bed thanking whatever god might exist that the level-headed telekinetic was his lover not either of the men he’d had crushes on at one time or another. They were both, as people around here said, mad as march hares.
“Hot-headed idiot,“ Aya grumbled as Ken passed them. He got to his feet, wincing slightly as a bruise on his ribs popped. One gentle hand touched Yohji’s bruised face. “I’m sorry,” he said simply.
Yohji smiled, winced at the pain of torn lips, kissed Aya gently, then took another drag from the cigarillo.
“Yeah, but he’s our hot-headed idiot. He loves us, Aya, don’t forget that. Our fighting hurt him as much as we hurt one another.” He touched a cut on Aya’s cheek, “That will leave a scar unless Kai agrees to heal it.”
Aya shrugged. “Doesn’t matter,” he said indifferently before he stopped and thought about it. “Actually, it does. I’m happy to carry your scars.” He secretly doubted whether Kai would come anywhere near him after his behaviour of the night before.
“I just want to get our training over with so we can go home. My poor sister wants out of corsets and back into mini skirts and I want to face whatever awaits us head on instead of running away.”
“Me too, I’m tired of being here and I want to go home. Our real home.” Yohji touched the cut on Aya’s cheek again, his expression barely visible in the dark. “Yeah, I think that should stay there to remind you of tonight. At least for now.”
He finished the cigarillo, flicked the smouldering butt into an empty jar and took Aya by the arm, “Bed. Now,” he ordered.
Aya smiled. He liked this facet of Yohji and would allow the blonde to be as dominant as he liked…or needed. For now…
He didn’t argue just let Yohji lead him into the house and back up the stairs to their room.
* * * * * * *
Crawford sat up and reached for his glasses. It wasn’t full light yet, and he was still tired, but he had things to do and he could laze away the days once Rosenkruez and Kritiker were gone.
He pushed the covers aside and got out of bed, his ribs still sore from Fujimiya’s fists. He smiled slightly as he walked to the basin and pitcher on his dresser, splashed cold water on his face.
What he wouldn’t give for a hot shower, or a real civilized bathroom with real plumbing and a flush toilet.
Soon. We’ll have all of that soon.
*Schuldig, are you awake?* he thought, knowing that he’d be waking the telepath up with such an inquiry even if he was still asleep.
*Yes, Vater, what is your command?* Schuldig sounded tired but sated and happy enough, ready to get on with the job in hand.
*In one hour I want everyone downstairs in the kitchen to eat, then we start our practice. Make sure Cole joins us also.*
Brad dried his face, looked at the fading bruises and grinned. *I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised today, Schuldig. Things have... changed.*
*Well I know you finally got in Aya’s pants. Did it make that much of a difference?* In his own room, he was shaking Farfarello awake and climbing out of bed.
He hoped it had. He’d never seen Crawford as rattled as he had been the night before, although minutes after Aya had entered his room he’d been fine again. He frowned. It couldn’t have been minutes.
Of course! Aya must have taken them some when else for a while. He wondered how Kudoh had taken the news. He guessed Hidaka had been angry enough to tell the blonde exactly what his lover had been up to. He sighed. And yet, Crawford seemed happy with all developments. It was time to stop speculating and see for himself.
*You’ll see how much of a difference it made,* Crawford replied, *as soon as you see Kudoh and Fujimiya.*
By the time Schuldig and Farfarello made it down the stairs Brad was already in the kitchen, a pot of coffee on the stove which had already achieved a good deal of heat, enough to drive the early morning chill out of the room.
Winter was coming on, the leaves on the trees turning colours, but they wouldn’t be around to see any real cold. They were heading back to their own time.
And it couldn’t come soon enough for the leader of Schwarz.
He sat down and regarded Schuldig, the faded bruises on his face quite visible in the morning light streaming into the room.
Schuldig’s brows rose. He knew the red haired Weiss kitty had claws but Crawford looked like he’d done ten rounds with Mike Tyson.
*You want me to get healer boy before I wake the others?* he asked.
Crawford considered it, swept his tongue around inside his mouth, felt a tooth move and nodded. *Might be a good idea.*
Farfarello studied Crawford for a moment, “You can’t see what he’s going to do anymore, can you?”
“No,” Crawford admitted.
Schuldig had been heading for the door but that little conversation brought him up short. “Is that likely to be a problem?” he asked. “Or is he completely yours now?”
“He won’t be any trouble. He’s as much part of Schwarz as Ken is. I think it will be good for me to practice with someone I can’t see, just in case,” Brad remarked.
Farfarello went to their poor excuse for a refrigerator and pulled out the eggs and bacon, “I want to go back to our own time. I can’t stand the food here,” he muttered.
“I think everyone is ready to go home.”
“Ain’t that the truth,” Schuldig said as he continued out of the door. He climbed the stairs again and started knocking on doors, getting them all up for breakfast. When he reached Kai’s door he knocked and poked his head round it.
“When you’re dressed you’ll need to do a bit of work on Brad’s face,” he said.
Kai glowered at him. “No fucking chance,” he said flatly.
Schuldig was across the room in a split second and had Kai by the shoulders, shaking him. “You listen to me, you little shit, if Crawford says jump we all jump. The only thing we question is how fucking high, got that?”
He let the boy go then and ran a hand through his untidy hair. “I know he upset you last night and I don’t even know why but I’m sure he had good reasons. It might be an idea for you to find out what they were.”
He turned to leave before he thought about something else. “You might want to check on Aya, too.” Then he was gone.
Great, just fucking great. Not only Crawford but a pissed off Aya too. What a wonderful way to start the day.
He got dressed and crossed the landing to knock on Aya and Yohji’s door.
Yohji was face down on the bed, sound asleep, and very little short of gunfire or explosions was going to wake him up.
Aya was just about awake enough to invite him in. Nervously he opened the door and gasped. Aya was a mass of bruises from temple to waist. His lips were split and there was a deep cut on his cheek. From what Kai could see of him, Yohji looked just as bad. If this had been because Yohji fell asleep in his bed…
“It was nothing to do with you,” Aya said, as if he’d read his thoughts. “Can you do anything for Yohji?”
Somewhere deep in a dream of pain and pleasure, a dream where Aya had him tied down, fucked him, slapped him, Yohji whimpered, his cock hard, wanting to be sheathed in flesh.
Aya’s flesh.
But it was Aya doing the fucking, with Crawford lazily teasing one of his nipples with the tip of an elegantly manicured nail while Kai, beautiful little Kai was kissing Aya.
Kai edged round the bed, still wary of Aya after his jealous rage the night before. The redhead was ignoring him, however, as he ran a hand through Yohji’s hair urging him into wakefulness.
On the stairs, Schuldig came to an abrupt halt as Yohji’s dream exploded into his vision. *Oh boy! That’s quite a scenario you’ve dreamed up.*
Yohji groaned, the sound purely sexual as he opened his eyes and blearily looked around, *Fuck you, Schuldig,* he told the telepath his thought clear and as concise as any sending the German himself could have managed.
Schuldig’s chuckle echoed in his head and then was gone as the telepath left his mind.
“Bengal’s here. Let him take a look at those bruises,” Aya was saying while Kai was hovering by the bed, obviously nervous.
Yohji groaned as he turned over in bed, his morning erection making the covers stand up, showing just how much Yohji managed to hide under his tight jeans.
“It’s barely daylight,” he complained in true Yohji fashion.
“Nevertheless, we’re all wanted downstairs apparently,” Kai said, “and you might not want them to see the state of your face.” He glanced across at Aya and bit his lip. “Yours needs attention too.”
“Never mind about me. See to Yohji.”
Yohji glanced at Aya, reached out and pulled Kai onto the bed, “Yeah, take care of me, Kai.”
Aya’s eyes narrowed. “If I need permission I think you need it too,” he said. Anything else he might have to say he would say later…in private.
Kai yelped and turned huge eyes on Aya, wincing slightly as if expecting a punch in the mouth. However, all the redhead did was shake his head, swing his legs out of the bed and reach for his jeans. He hissed slightly in pain as he did so.
*Aya, get back in bed. You need some healing too,* Yohji thought, his mental voice slipping into Aya’s mind as smoothly as his cock fit into Aya’s ass. *And as far as Kai goes, he’s lonely. I...* he shook his head, *I can feel it Aya.*
Aya’s eyes widened at the ease with which Yohji had broached his shields. Even Schuldig couldn’t do that unless he dropped them. He turned to stare at Yohji before lifting his legs back onto the bed with a slight sigh of relief.
He gazed at Kai for a moment, seeing the boy’s beauty as if for the first time and feeling his desire to be loved by someone, whoever it might be. He frowned, trying to work out where all these new skills had suddenly come from.
Then it clicked into place. Something profound and fundamental to their survival had happened last night. By giving himself to Crawford he had changed the pre-cog’s future and by finally letting Yohji in completely he had opened a link between them like the one he was certain that Schuldig and Farfarello shared.
*So…are you asking me for permission to fuck him? If you are, well he did save your life so the answer is yes.*
*No, I want him to be ours, Aya. Yours, mine, probably Crawford’s too if... well I had this really explicit dream.” The blond frowned, realizing something, *And I... liked what we were doing, the four of us.*
Kai nearly jumped out of his skin when Aya lay back on the bed and started laughing. It was something he’d never seen the redhead do before and, even battered and bruised as he was, it made him even more beautiful.
*No longer so vanilla then, Yohji?*
He stopped laughing and regarded Kai again. *I’ve no objections to that, as long as he’s agreeable.*
Kai, meanwhile, chose to ignore all the strange distractions and get on with his job. He placed his hands just above Yohji’s face and a blue nimbus spread from his fingertips to touch the golden skin. As Aya watched all the cuts and bruises disappeared as if they’d never been.
*I was never vanilla, Aya,* Yohji replied. *I’m used to multiple sex partners, but they’ve only been female, and you know why.*
He smiled at Aya, *Why don’t you try kissing him?*
Having finished with Yohji, Kai glanced up at Aya to find him regarding him steadily. He cleared his throat nervously. “You want I should help you?”
Aya raised a hand to the cut on his cheek. “Don’t heal this,” he said. Kai climbed over Yohji to reach him and work his magic. Aya waited until he’d finished before reaching out and snagging him by the back of his neck and pulling him down for a kiss.
Kai went still for a second before, tentatively, he responded.
Yohji watched Aya kissing Kai. He’d seen his lover kiss Zeshin and all he’d felt from that was -- wrongness. When he’d seen Brad kissing Aya he’d felt a flare of jealousy, of wanting to be involved, or wanting to tear Aya away from him. But watching him kissing Kai was like seeing two pieces of a puzzle fall into place.
He scooted in closer, kissed Kai’s shoulder, a hand reaching around the teen to hold him in a tentative embrace.
Kai shivered and shuddered between them. For so long the forgotten one of the team he now had the undivided attention of the two most beautiful members of that team and, although nervous, he was loving the things they were doing to him.
“Easy Kai, we aren’t going to hurt you,” Yohji murmured into his ear, a hand sliding down the boy’s belly, up his chest the caress gentle. His lips brushed the nape of Kai’s neck, Yohji’s free hand reaching out to grasp a handful of Aya’s hair.
Aya broke off kissing Kai to kiss Yohji over the top of him one of his hands still stroking Kai’s hair. When he broke away from Yohji he was smiling.
“We’d better go down to breakfast and anything else the all-seeing Oz has planned for us today,” he said aloud. His voice whispered through Yohji’s mind like a caress. *Thank you.*
*Never forget that I love you, babe. Always and forever,* Yohji thought to him as he forced Kai to lean back so he could kiss the boy who was cradled in his arms. *He wanted this, Aya. I’m as sure of that as I’m sure of my love for you.*
He broke the kiss with Kai, smiled at the boy. “Don’t worry, there will be more. A lot more, anything and everything you want Kai.” He glanced at Aya, “Yeah, we don’t want to rile Oz and his guards from the Emerald City.” He chuckled, caressed Aya’s face, “Love you,” he said, then looked at Kai, “love you too kid.”
Aya actually chuckled at the way Kai’s eyes widened at that. He smiled at the boy for the first time and was even more amused when Kai gasped in amazement. “You’re growing on me too,” he said before swinging his legs out of the bed. If he didn’t move, none of them would.
Yohji scooped the stunned boy up in his arms, giving him a quick kiss, “I’ve seen how you look at me, Kai,” he whispered into the boy’s ear. “I know what you want, and what you want is what you’ll get.”
Kai swallowed hard before throwing caution to the winds and his arms round Yohji’s neck. Perfectly willing to oblige, Yohji set his lips to Kai’s in a sweetly exploring kiss.
Aya smiled at the two of them for a moment before saying, “Out of bed. Now. We don’t have enough time to play before Brad sends Farf after us.” His eyes went distant for a second. “Unless…”
“Oh hell yeah,” Yohji said, a wicked glint in his jade eyes.
Aya tilted his head to one side as he considered how much time they would need. He had to avoid his dawn meeting with Ken, of course, and the time he’d spent with Brad so going backwards in time was not an option. And, if he took them forward they could take all the ‘time’ they wanted.
Grinning slightly he climbed back onto the bed. “Hang on to your hats…or whatever,” he said and took them forward two and a half days. Suddenly it was dusk rather than morning and Aya smiled at them, obviously pleased with himself.
“Now so long as we don’t run into ourselves we’re good,” Yohji said as he lay Kai down on the bed which was now neatly made and leaned over to give Aya a scorching kiss.
*We won’t. By this ‘time‘ we‘ll be back in our own time.* Then he stopped thinking about the paradoxes of time and concentrated on pleasure.
*Good enough for me, Aya.*
Yohji reached for Kai’s shirt, “You’re over dressed for this little party, Kai.”
“Meep!” Kai exclaimed making Aya laugh aloud again. He crawled across the bed and attacked Kai’s jeans.
Yohji grinned, “I think I liked that noise. Why don’t you make cute sounds like that, Aya?” Yohji questioned as he stroked a hand over Kai’s sleek body.
Aya shot him a look. “Don’t push your luck, Yotan,” he warned though his eyes were sparkling.
Kai finally realised that he might as well enjoy this and started wriggling out of his clothing.
“But Ayan...” Yohji drawled, “don’t you know what a sound like that does to a man?” Yohji laughed, “You’ve already got me wrapped around...” he smirked, “well not your finger, that’s damned sure.”
Yohji pulled Kai’s shirt off and tossed it aside, then he laughed again. “Oh man, this is too funny. We left our clothes back in time.” He leered at Kai then winked, “Guess you’ll just have to deal with two totally naked horny men. Think you can handle it, Kai?”
Kai swallowed. Hard. Yohji he was fairly comfortable with but Aya still had the capacity to scare the shit out of him. He opened his mouth to answer but all that came out was another squeak as Aya’s hand closed round his cock. He was instantly hard.
“No fair, Aya, you took the best part for yourself!” Yohji complained right before he leaned down to lay a scorching melt-your-heart kiss on Kai’s mouth.
“That’s because you talk too much,” Aya said with a smirk. Then he bent his head and ran his tongue around and across the head of Kai’s cock, tasting the healer for the first time.
A wicked gleam lit the blonde’s eyes, “I’ve got an idea,” he said. “You need to let go of that and move over there,” he told Aya, pointing to the foot of the bed.
Aya looked up and rather reluctantly let go of Kai. “I do?” he asked. Sighing slightly he moved down to the foot of the bed. “Now what?”
Yohji smiled down at Kai, “Crawl right here,” he told the boy, patting a place on the bed that would put his cock near Aya’s face. “Get on your knees, Aya.”
Aya knew what was coming next and got into the right position, smiling at Kai in what he hoped was a reassuring manner.
Yohji reached into the bedside table and grinned when he found the jar of greasy gunk they’d been using for lube. He stood up, slicked down his cock and stepped behind Aya, “And a fun time will be had by all,” he laughed as he gripped and slipped a finger into Aya.
He didn’t know what the future might hold, but just knowing what the next few hours would bring brought a grin to his face.
He’d slain the last of his demons, stepped through the fire, and followed Aya into a better life.
It was all working out just fine. He had Aya, and Kai, and just maybe they would work one more little detail out and he’d have the world in his hands. Or rather he’d have the men he most wanted.
Aya. Kai. And a certain dark-eyed precog.
* * * * * * *
Aya took them back to exactly when they’d left and they had just finished dressing themselves when someone hammered on the door.
Yohji looked at Aya, closed his eyes and tried to ‘feel’ who was on the other side of the door. He smiled at Aya, “It’s for you.”
Aya rolled his eyes and told whoever it was to come in.
Brad opened the door and walked in, taking in the trio with knowing eyes. “And you didn’t invite me? I’m wounded,” he said, actually giving the three a smile that reached his eyes.
“We got the feeling you were more interested in getting everyone to breakfast,” Aya said sweetly. “So we started without you.”
His words elicited something suspiciously like a giggle from Kai who was far more self-assured than he had been hours or seconds before.
“So I see,” Crawford replied. He walked over to Aya, glanced at Kudoh, and pulled the redhead into his embrace, kissing him thoroughly.
Then he let Aya go, gave a completely at ease Yohji the same treatment, then looked at Kai. “Happy?”
“Very,” Kai told him. “I suppose you ‘saw’ all of this?”
Aya draped an arm over the smaller man’s shoulders and gazed across at Brad and Yohji. He didn’t think that any of this had come close to what Brad had been seeing before last night.
He thought about the happenings of the ‘night’ and grimaced slightly. Despite Kai’s healing of his visible bruises, he was still sore from the sheer number of sessions he’d been through since ‘last night.’
“I saw only one path through the visions I had when you were in the room with me, Kai. So...” he shrugged, “I took the chance and walked onto the only path that might find us all alive at the end.” His dark eyes clouded, not with a vision, but with an emotion unfamiliar to him.
“I’m sorry Kai.” It was the first time he’d apologized to anyone-- and been sincere-- in years.
“That’s okay,” Kai said softly. “It hurt at the time but…” He shrugged. “I’ve come to realise that you never do things without having a good reason. I just wish I’d remembered that last night instead of getting so upset.”
Crawford reached out and caressed Kai’s face, “And I wish I’d been able to explain why I did what I did. But you can’t change the future that way.” He lowered his head and kissed Kai gently, making no demand.
Kai came out from under Aya’s arm and threw his own round the pre-cog’s neck, kissing him back. He broke off fairly quickly, knowing somehow that Brad had more to say.
“We’re facing a completely different future. Now all I have to do is make sure nothing happens to knock us off that path,” the Schwarz leader explained. “It’s why I told you that I love you, Aya. It was the only way to set this into motion.”
No one in the room was more shocked at those words than Yohji. He glanced at Aya, “My dream this morning..” he shook his head. “It was the four of us in bed together.”
Brad smiled at Kudoh, “You’ll start to notice even more strange things. Effects of the sorts of powers we all have, they overlap to some degree, and the effects will be...” his expression turned smug, “nothing short of spectacular.”
*You have permission to fuck with Brad but both Kai and I have to be there too,* Yohji told Aya silently.
*Likewise,* Aya shot back, surprising the blonde.
*I love you,* Yohji replied.
“Well now that’s settled, let’s go have something to eat and get busy. We’ve got a lot to do today because tomorrow we’re going back to our own time,” Brad replied. “It’s time for the devils of Rosenkreuz to meet the demons of Schwarz.”
* * * * * * *
Ken sighed and stared longingly at the plates piled with food. They were waiting for Crawford to come down with the missing members of Schwarz. Notably they were all former Weiss, only Ken and Zeshin there at the table.
Cole was seated beside Aya-chan on her left, a wary and tense Zeshin on her right.
Something was definitely going on there, but damned if Ken could figure out what. He wasn’t sure he wanted to know either.
He was still tired from lack of sleep, but he’d live. He’d gone longer without rest during his years in Weiss.
Restless, he put a hand on Nagi’s thigh, squeezed gently.
Farfarello for his part was watching Cole the way a cat would watch a bird it was considering making a meal of while Cole himself was smiling and chatting softly with Aya, telling her about a horse he’d once owned that liked to drink beer.
“If he didn’t get his beer on Saturday nights he’d get downright cantankerous and refuse to leave town until I brought him one.”
Aya-chan giggled softly, her eyes firmly fixed on Cole’s face.
Schuldig was silent and pensive, occasionally glancing at Cole with a trace of his old sneer on his face.
Nagi placed his hand over Ken’s and returned the pressure.
The sound of feet on the stairs heralded the arrival of the others. There was the unexpected sound of Aya’s laughter which came to an abrupt halt when he reached the door and saw Cole sitting so close to his sister.
Ken stared at Aya as he came into the room. He couldn’t remember hearing his normally quiet team mate laughing like that even once in all their years together in Weiss.
Whatever had happened between the redhead and Yohji had apparently been for the best.
Crawford walked to his seat at the head of the table. The two seats to his right were empty, the ones on his left were filled by Schuldig and Farfarello. There was an open seat beside Ken.
Yohji led Aya to the chair nearest Brad, taking the next one in line for himself.
“Are we ready to eat?” Brad asked.
Kai slipped in next to Ken with a somewhat dreamy smile on his face.
“More than ready, Vater,” Schuldig said glancing from one to the other of the four that had just entered. Whatever conclusions he came to he kept to himself, however, not even passing a mental message to Brad.
Crawford picked up the plate nearest him and helped himself to some pancakes, “I believe we were going to get a bit of practice in during the rest of the week. I’ve decided that the ‘week’ ends today. We’ll practice, get a good night’s sleep,” he looked pointedly at Aya, Yohji and Kai, “or at least rest. But in the morning, relative to this time, we’re going back.”
His gaze swept the table, “Any objections?”
“None at all,” said Nagi with real feeling. “Personally I can’t wait to have a really hot bath. I feel like I’ve got a month’s supply of dirt on me.”
“You should get Kenken to wash more often then,” Schuldig told him with a grin which vanished when he got a telekinetic slap on the back of the head. “Ouch! Vicious brat!”
“You asked for that,” Aya said from across the table.
“I know where you keep your cigarillos, Schuldig,” Ken remarked.
“Ouch,” Yohji said. “That’s hitting a man where it hurts, Ken.”
“Damn straight,’ the brunet replied.
Brad chuckled, “Play nice, children.”
“You think today will be long enough to get the training out of the way?” Schuldig asked more seriously. “I thought we needed another week at least.”
“Let’s just say a few things of great importance have happened that negate the need for that much training,” Brad replied.
Zeshin smiled at Aya-chan and passed her the biscuits. “There’s butter and honey, or would you rather have the blackberry preserves?”
On the other side of the girl Cole was offering her the scrambled eggs, “Miss Fujimeeah, can I help you with the eggs?”
Farfarello’s left hand fell on Schuldig’s crotch, cupping his lover’s groin. *I know what I want more practice with,* he thought.
Schuldig smiled at his lover. *You don’t need the practice, Farf. You’re already an expert! But I’ll be happy to oblige.*
Aya was eyeing Cole but he addressed Zeshin. “Farfarello’s going to teach you some of his fighting tricks,” he said. “They might be very useful.”
“I would be pleased to learn anything Farfarello is inclined to teach me,” Zeshin replied, his gaze focused past the girl on the man beyond her. “Perhaps Aya-chan would like to learn a bit about fighting so she’s not so dependent on us for her salvation.”
“Oh yes! Can I?” Aya-chan was obviously thrilled to bits with the idea. “I’m so tired of being excess baggage.”
“You’re not that,” her brother told her, “and as far as I’m concerned you can learn whatever you wish.”
Cole smiled, “I could teach her to use a gun.”
Zeshin smiled, but there was a frosty glitter in his gaze, “And I can teach her to fight with a piece of wire. Much quieter, don’t you think?”
Yohji frowned, “She’ll need gloves to use a harigane.”
Zeshin set a pair of gloves on the table. They looked like kid gloves in a pale dove grey, that would go up past the girl’s elbows. They appeared as if as if they’d fit Aya-chan perfectly. Close inspection showed that they weren’t exactly typical ladies gloves however as they were thicker than the material could account for.
Aya-chan smiled at Zeshin. “For me?” she asked. “Thank you, Zen, they’re lovely as well as… useful?” She glanced at Yohji as she asked the question.
“Can I see those?’ Yohji asked, reaching past Cole.
Aya-chan picked the gloves up and passed them to Yohji, before returning her attention to her plate. “What do you think?” she asked.
Yohji felt the gloves. They were soft composed of several layers of thin kidskin. Much better protection than the gloves he wore, and much less likely to cut through. “They’ll protect your hands,” he told her. “Which is good, I’d hate to see you with the scars I’ve got.”
He looked at Zeshin, “She might be better learning the naginata or something else. Throwing the wire isn’t easy, and she’ll need more than those gloves to protect her.”
“I know. I’ll work something out.”
Yohji regarded Aya, “What do you think, Aya? You know what the wire is like, do you want her to learn how to use it?”
Aya glanced up from the piece of toast he was buttering. He thought about the damage the wire could do and the physical and emotional strength needed to actually throttle someone with it. “No,” he said. Seeing his sister about to argue he held up his hand to silence her.
“If you really want to learn how to use a weapon, then get Zen to teach you how to use a naginata effectively. In my opinion it’s better suited to a woman as it can keep an opponent further away and doesn’t take the same amount of strength to use well as the wire does.”
“A gun would keep people far away from her,” Cole pointed out.
“Yes, it would, wouldn’t it,” Brad stated.
“If you wanna learn to use a gun, Miss Fujimeeah, I’m a pretty good shot.”
Zeshin frowned, “So am I.”
Ken nodded, “Very true. He’s almost as good as you, Aya.”
Aya ignored all the others and gazed at his sister. “Do you really want to learn how to use a gun?”
Aya-chan’s mouth set in a somewhat mutinous line and she folded her arms and gazed straight back at him. “Ranichan, I don’t care what I use as long as I can stop feeling so useless. But I am going to learn how to use something!”
Aya didn’t argue with her: he simply nodded. “If you decide on a gun, ask Yohji, Brad or Schuldig to teach you. They’re the best I’ve seen. But, if you’ll take some advice, try a variety of weapons first and find what’s best for you.”
Her eyes narrowed. “Does that include your katana?”
He winced. He‘d seen his sister with his father‘s katana. Once. She‘d nearly beheaded the family cat. “No. Practice kendo with a bamboo sword for a couple of years and then I might buy you a wakizashi.”
Cole stared, shook his head, “What in tarnation is a wakeezah wakee... Hell I don’t even know how to pronounce it.”
“It’s a sword,” Aya told him without elucidating about its use as a one-handed indoor weapon. “So, what do you want to do?”
“Learn several weapons,” Aya-chan said meekly. She knew she wasn’t going to win over his katana and had asked more out of devilment than any real desire to learn.
He smiled at her then. “Good girl,” he said.
“I will be pleased to teach you whatever you like,” Zeshin told her.
Cole frowned. He was being shut out completely. He looked to Yohji for support, but the blonde was busy folding a piece of bacon neatly onto half of a biscuit.
“I know a bit about knife fighting,” he offered.
There was a sparkle in Farfarello’s one eye as he said, “Oh, well if she wants to learn that, I’d be more than happy to teach her.”
Aya nearly choked on his toast at that offer.
Cole looked alternately at Nagi and Kai. “So what do you boys fight with? Guns or something else?”
Kai shrugged. “Sai, mostly,” he said. “They’re a kind of knife.”
Nagi, however, gave Cole one of his more evil looks. “My brain,” he said very deliberately.
Aya excused himself at that point and disappeared into the hall way. The sound of his rich laughter was heard seconds later. It continued for a moment or two before he re-entered the dining room as if nothing had happened, took his seat and resumed eating.
“Well perhaps we can all takes turns with the lovely and very curious Aya-chan,” Brad remarked. “I’d be happy to show her how to make good investments once we get back to our own time. Oh, and of course if she wants to learn how to use my Heckler and Koch .45 she’s welcome to do that also.”
“What about you, Schuldig, do you feel up to showing her how to use a pistol?”
Schuldig shot him a look that said, unmistakably, why me? “Happy to oblige,” he said aloud. *I’ll get you for that, Vater!*
Brad’s dark eyes met Schuldig’s over the rim of his coffee cup, *Have you forgotten she is part of Schwarz, Schuldig? Or do you need to be reminded that we stick together?* The amusement that had lit those dark eyes a moment ago was gone.
*Sorry, Vater. Of course I’ll teach her if she doesn’t go to you or Yohji first. As a matter of interest, why isn’t anyone taking up lover-boy’s offers?* He was very careful to keep the mental conversation private. Randall might pick up on the fact they were communing but not the content.
*Aya doesn’t want him near Aya-chan. He doesn’t care for Cole, who is, a relative outsider and whom you know rifled through my papers and was reading my journal.* Crawford set his coffee cup down and started to eat. *Think about it Schuldig. If Rosenkruez were here in this time with us, what would have happened to anyone we found fucking with my things.*
“Since our small land war with Everette is over, I’m afraid your services will no longer be required Mr. Randall,” Crawford stated.
“Oh, well I was hoping to work with you for a spell. I don’t rightly know what I’ll do if you’ve got no work for me.”
“You might apply to be a bodyguard to a Mr. Algernon Porter.”
Aya glanced up from his food to frown first at Brad then Schuldig. Then he shrugged and concentrated on his breakfast. Whatever it was about Randall that made him unacceptable to Crawford suited him down to the ground.
His sister, however, was not so pleased. “But…I thought Cole-san was coming with us.”
Cole-san? It was Randall-san yesterday. Aya glanced up at her and she flushed to the roots of her hair.
“I was kinda hoping to tag along,” the half-red man said.
Crawford set aside his fork, wiped his mouth and placed the napkin back on the table. “Well, you see, there’s the little matter of really needing someone to help safeguard my interests here. I was serious about you going to see Algernon. He’s not a well man and he needs someone to keep the wolves at bay, in a manner of speaking. With us leaving, there will be no one here to keep him from harm.”
Cole’s expression turned thoughtful, “I suppose so. But I was rather hankerin’ to see what the future was like. Plus, well Miss Fujimeeah here is, well she’s been nice enough to say I could be her beau.”
Zeshin’s eyes narrowed, and it was all he could do to keep from hissing at Cole. If he had a tail it would have been lashing in agitation. “And I have asked her brother for permission to court her,” the teen said coolly.
Aya-chan turned huge, tear damp eyes to stare at Zeshin. Then she whispered, “Excuse me, please,” and fled the room. Running up the stairs to escape to her room.
The boy’s shoulders slumped and every trace of colour drained from his face. Feeling sick he too bolted from the room, heading for the privy.
Cole was looking at Aya, “You gave that kid...” he shook his head and got to his feet ready to go after the girl.
Aya moved almost as quickly as Schuldig and reached the door long before Randall got near it. “You’ll leave my sister alone, Randall, if you know what’s good for you.”
The man stared at Aya, his form dimming, Aya feeling a strange chill as the insubstantial form of the Phantom Gun moved through him.
“What the…” Then Aya remembered Cole’s power and cursed fluently in Japanese.
Cole ran for the stairs.
Crawford just sat back in his seat and picked up his coffee, *This should be interesting. Chronomancer versus the Phantom Gun. My money is, of course, on Abyssinian.*
Aya shifted time and arrived outside Aya-chan’s room before Cole had even reached the stairs. He rapped on the door.
Aya-chan opened it to peer out at him, her face tear-streaked. “Go away!”
“And let Randall in here? No way!”
Aya-chan became angry in her turn. “So you palm me off on poor Zen?”
Cole had gotten about half way up the stairs by this time. Aya simply stopped time for him and held him there. Then he took a deep breath and faced his angry sister.
“I didn’t ‘palm you off’ on anyone. Zeshin asked if I would object and I told him I wouldn’t simply because I trust him where I don’t trust Randall.”
Aya-chan flushed again and wouldn’t meet his eyes.
“Aya, what have you done? Did you let Randall…” But he couldn’t say it, couldn’t stand the idea of the cowboy with his hands on his sister.
“Not all the way,” she mumbled. Then her head came up. “I’m still a virgin, Ran.”
“Okay,” he said on a slow expiration of breath. “But you’re coming home with us and he’s staying here. Don’t hurt yourself anymore over him.”
She glanced at the motionless man on the stairs. “Can I at least say goodbye?” she asked.
He frowned slightly. “As long as it’s not alone.”
Her eyes narrowed and she pouted but her brother merely stared impassively back at her. “Oh alright,” she capitulated.
“Then come and finish your breakfast.”
She went back down to the kitchen with him, passing the motionless Cole on the stairs. Suddenly she giggled. “Are you going to let him move anytime soon?” she asked.
“When you’re back in company, yes.”
They entered the kitchen and he let Cole go.
Cole blinked. Started up the steps and stopped, hearing Aya-chan’s voice from the kitchen.
The men were laughing. Probably at his expense.
Running a hand through his dark hair he decided that now was as good a time as any to make his departure. They’d made it pretty clear they no longer wanted or needed him.
But it rankled that he’d had a taste of the girl and would get no more of such sweet nectar. It was enough to sustain him for a few months, that taste of her. But it wouldn’t last. Wasn’t enough.
She’d be wasted with that boy.
But life was full of waste, his own a pretty good example. Life lost to a ghost wind, soul filled with dust. Neither alive nor dead. Trapped somewhere between.
*Goodbye, Miss Fujimeeah,* he thought. *Have a good life.*
Then like mist vanishing in the morning sun, the Phantom Gun faded from sight.
Aya had a good view from his place at the table and he saw Randall simply fade away. Somehow he knew that his sister wouldn’t get her opportunity to say goodbye but that was probably for the best.