The body was hefted over the side of the boat and four pairs of eyes watched as it sank without trace in the dark waters. One pair closed on several kinds of agony and Aya finally gave in to pain and slumped to the deck.

Omi bleeding from minor wounds himself gave a gasp of consternation and ran to his side. He glanced up at the only unscathed member of Weiss.

�He�s badly hurt, Yohji-kun. Only by going to my grandfather and giving in to his demands can I save him. In the meantime get him to the cabin and do what you can to help him.� He turned wide blue eyes on the fourth member of Weiss. �Ken-kun, I think you�d better come with me.�

Aya heard the words, tried to speak to deny what their youngest was planning. Never trust a Takatori and he had no reason to believe old man Saijou was any better than the rest.

But his hurt body played his will false and all that came out of his mouth was a groan.

Yohji spit out the butt end of the cigarette he'd been smoking. He was still riding the ragged end of the adrenaline high that the violence had sent burning through his veins.

The jade eyes were on the youngest member of Weiss. He nodded as if accepting Omi's remarks as the best course of action. But Yohji instinctively knew better. Takatori Saijou wasn't someone he would accept, and if Omi made a deal with such a devil-- Well better the devil you knew than one you didn't.

And he'd take the violet eyed devil over any Takatori, even one who'd been calling himself Omi. One who'd been their friend.

"I'll take care of him, don't worry." He patted Ken on the shoulder, "Take care, and watch your back," he told the former soccer player. He was saying goodbye, they just didn't know it.

"Come on, Aya. We need to get you out of here," he pulled one of Aya's arms over his shoulder and wrapped his arm around Aya's hip, trying not to jar his wounds.

Aya was staring at Omi as if seeing something that none of the others could. �I didn�t ask for your help,� he growled out. �And I won�t accept the help of a Takatori. I neither want nor need your grandfather�s �help� Omi. Especially at the price he�s asking.�

But the young man wasn�t listening and there was something steely in his usually friendly blue eyes as he said, �I�ve made my decision Abyssinian. An ambulance will be sent to the cabin just as soon as I can arrange it.�

Aya�s eyes narrowed but whether it was from pain or something else there was no way of knowing.

Ken had somehow got the boat to shore and Aya didn�t look back as Yohji helped him off it.

Yohji headed for Seven. As soon as Ken and Omi were out of earshot he whispered, "We're not going to the cabin, so just take it easy. I've had enough of the Takatori to last a life-time."

Aya shot him a look but said nothing. There was nothing to say and besides he was in too much pain to make the effort.

As Yohji helped him into his beloved car he wondered vaguely where they might go. One thing was certain, they couldn�t stay. Shion had killed Manx and Birman had committed suicide rather than submit to his plans for Kritiker which meant there was nobody he could even begin to trust left.

A tear escaped as he thought of the past. So much pain and now there was more for he knew he�d just witnessed the �death� of Tsukiyono Omi.

Yohji got the first aid kit out of the trunk and went back to press a thick gauze pad inside Aya's coat. "Hold it, you're bleeding to death."

He hopped into the driver's seat and started Seven up. "You think you'll live another hour? I know someone that can stitch you up but they're an hour away."

Of course the cabin was almost three hours away, and Yohji sure as hell didn't think Aya'd make it that far without help. And he had no intention of going there. He had another destination in mind. One that only he knew about.

Aya shrugged slightly but held the pad in place. Why was Yohji trying to save him? He�d achieved everything he�d set out to do. His sister was awake and safely in Europe, Takatori Reiji was dead and Shion had finally paid for his betrayal.

There was nothing else left and he was supposed to die. He�d intended it when he�d come out to meet Shion, only three well-meaning idiots had turned up, and Omi had pretty much confirmed it by sending him to the cabin when he knew he�d never make it that far..

Yohji got the car onto the road. He reached over and gripped Aya's hand, gave it a squeeze. "Talk to me Aya. You have to stay awake."

�You choosing life for me as well as yourself now, Yohji?�

"Yes. And don't try to argue with me. I won't listen." He pushed his foot down on the accelerator and the car sped forward.

Aya shivered as blood loss and shock conspired against him. He didn�t have the strength to argue but he was a liability that would slow Yohji�s flight down. Even if he survived long enough to be stitched he would still need time to recuperate and the blond didn�t have that much time before Kritiker came looking for him.

He winced at the pain and closed his eyes.

"Aya, stay awake," Yohji urged and shook the younger man. "Damn it, Aya!"

The shaking produced a groan from him and he opened his eyes to glare at Yohji. Then he shivered as the cold bit even harder.

Yohji slapped Aya lightly. "Wake the fuck up!"

�I am awake. Stop hitting me. Hurts.�

"You were falling asleep. Don't do that, Aya. I want you alive. I don't want to have to dump a corpse." He fished a cigarette out of his pocket and stuck it in his mouth. "Talk to me."

�You don�t want to listen to arguments so what do you want me to talk about?� Aya frowned at the cigarette but said nothing. It looked like the unhealthy smoker was going to outlive him anyway.

"Have you heard from your sister lately?" he asked. Not that he really cared that much, but he had to keep Aya from slipping away. If he fell asleep now, Yohji would have to dispose of a corpse.

�No.� Why that subject? Wasn�t he in enough pain? �Nor do I expect to. She believes me to be dead.�

Yohji groped for another topic they could discuss. "Sorry, I'm not at my best at the moment. I forgot your arrangement." He frowned and changed the subject. "If you could do anything with your life, what would you do, Aya?"

It was a stupid question, but at least it was relatively safe.

�Anything?� Aya smiled. There was no point in keeping any secrets now. �You�ll think me crazy but I�d run either a flower shop or garden centre. I actually liked growing things.� He glanced at Yohji. �And I�d try to build up a relationship with someone.�

He coughed and tasted blood. �Sorry, Yotan, but I don�t think I have anymore time.� His eyes closed.

Yohji gritted his teeth. It couldn't end like this. Not when he'd worked so hard to get them free of everything to do with Kritiker.

"Don't die on me Aya. Hold on," he urged, reaching over to take Aya's hand and squeeze it. "I can get you what you want, I can give you the things you want if you'll just live."

Orchid eyes flickered, the only sign that Aya made that he�d heard Yohji until he asked, �How?�

"I've been hiding money for years Aya. It's never been my intention to kill people for the rest of my life, and I knew you didn't want to keep doing this either." He lit his cigarette and drew a deep lungful of smoke before continuing. "I've got fake ID for both of us, and enough money to set us up in business-- anywhere but Japan."

That explained a couple of things, like why Yohji had showed up for the facedown with Shion and why he�d been so secretive recently. �Why me? Why not take Ken? You two always got on well.�

"Because Ken will blindly follow Omi into hell, and because-- well his mind is slipping. He's starting to enjoy killing too much, in case you haven't noticed that."

�I�d noticed. It�s always been there. From the time of that American soldier when he was still na�ve enough to think we could actually help people.� Aya sighed. Hidaka Ken had always been too honest and trusting for his own good.

�I�ll slow you down too much.�

"You won't slow me down at all, Aya. I've been waiting for something like this to happen," Yohji took another drag off his cigarette, "for a while now."

�For me to be wounded?� Aya couldn�t make sense of that at all, although he did know that his mind had slowed down due to lack of blood. It was ironic, Yohji showing him a chance of life when he was so near to death.

"Yeah, because with you hurt you won't fight me," Yohji told him. He glanced at the red-head. "If you weren't hurt would you have run from Kritiker or would you have stayed and done what was expected of you?"

Yohji shook his head, "And we already know the answer don't we?"

Aya thought about that for a long enough while for Yohji to squeeze his hand again. �I�m awake.� Nor would he waste what time he had left on sleep. Not when�

�I don�t know what I would have done,� he said. �Things didn�t happen the way I�d expected.� He chuckled softly. �I met Shion with the intention of escaping Kritiker. I knew I couldn�t kill him alone. I thought death would be my escape.�

Another mirthless little chuckle escaped his lips along with a drop of blood. �And hasn�t the new Persia virtually ordered my death?�

Yohji saw the blood running down Aya's chin and he had to retrieve his hand to drive because he'd pushed the accelerator down harder racing to get Aya to help before it was too late.

"To hell with what anyone in Kritiker does, or wants," the blond snarled. "I'm sick of them and their political agenda."

�You and me both, Yotan,� The nickname was said on a sigh as Aya closed his eyes again.

Yohji had to slow when he hit the gravel drive of the isolated farm where he'd been heading. He hadn't even gotten to the end before an elderly couple had stepped out on the porch.

He brought the car to a stop and helped Aya out, as the old man hurried toward them.

"How bad is he hurt?"

"I think he's dying," Yohji said.

"Get him inside; we'll do what we can."

Aya�s eyes flickered open as the pain of Yohji carrying him broke through the lethargy. �Where� who�?� Then his strength gave out and he fainted.

The elderly lady came forward then. �You�re sure about his blood type?� she asked. �A positive?�

"That's it," Yohji agreed. He bent and caught Aya's legs and picked the smaller man up bodily. "He took a katana in the gut, do you think you can save him?'

"I won't know until I can examine him, my friend. But I will do my best," the elderly man said as they went into the house.

Yohji felt bad about wearing his boots inside, but it just wasn't practical to take them off with Aya in such bad shape.

He carried the wounded swordsman into a side room that had been set up as an emergency room and lay Aya down on the table.

"Don't you die on me now, Aya," he whispered into his team mate's ear. "I won't forgive myself if you join Asuka."

�We need your space, Kudoh-san,� the woman said. She smiled up at him. �There is tea in the pot in the kitchen and you can smoke on the porch. Let us help your friend.�

Her hands were already busy with a drip trolley and the bag of blood that hung from it. A wide, hollow needle was inserted into Aya�s arm and the life-giving fluid started to flow into him.

Jade eyes moved over the dying man, then went to the woman. "Save him please. He's the only friend I have left."

Yohji turned away quickly so they couldn't see the tears or the anger in his eyes.

Damn you Takatori Saijou. And damn you too, Omi.

* * * * * * *

"I'm at the cabin," Ken said into his cell phone. "They aren't here."

He glanced at the dust covering everything. "There's no sign they ever came here either. There's dust over everything and none of it's been disturbed."

He headed for the door. "Do you want me to check the other safe houses or the Koneko?"

The young man who had been Tsukiyono Omi hugged himself for a moment before straightening up, his blue eyes hard. �No,� he said into the cell before switching it off.

If you�re going to be Persia and Mamoru you can�t let old loyalties get in your way.

Seemingly Kudoh felt the same way. All that was left to decide was whether he let the man go or sent agents to find him. Aya he wasn�t worried about. He�d known they�d never reach the cabin in time to save the redhead. No matter where Kudoh had gone, Aya was very probably dead.

There was something comforting in that thought. A living Aya would never have forgiven him for what he had done and an unforgiving Aya was a dangerous, vengeful creature.

No, it had all turned out for the best. Ken could help train the new Weiss and Kudoh� He sighed. Kudoh was a loose end that would have to be removed.

* * * * * * *

Yohji almost reached out to smooth the hair from Aya's face, but he stopped himself. Aya wasn't the touchy feely type, and now that he was recovering he wouldn't appreciate having Yohji's hands on him.

But he couldn't stop thinking about how close Aya had come to dying.

Or the way Aya had held his hand in the car.

He lit a cigarette and moved to the window of the dingy little apartment he'd leased. They were far from Tokyo, using the false names and IDs he'd had made for them.

But until Aya was well and they could get out of Japan, Yohji couldn't rest easily. He knew that the pair of Takatori would be looking for them-- or more likely just him. Aya had been almost dead, and they'd think he was dead which was good. If worse came to worse they could part ways and Yohji would decoy them away from the younger man.

He sat down on the window ledge and stared at the children below. Innocently playing a game of tag between the trash dumpsters and the battered car he'd bought after rolling Seven into the ocean off a warehouse loading dock near Tokyo.

He missed the car, but it was too easy to spot, too visible and the Takatori wouldn't expect him to give it up.

There was a sigh from the bed as Aya smelt the smoke. His eyes opened and he stared, confused by the strange surroundings. His mouth was dry and he was still sore but other than that as much a going concern as made no odds.

�Yohji?�

"I'm here," Yohji replied and crushed the smoke out in the can on the sill before he went to the red-head's side. There was only one bed, so Yohji had been sleeping on the floor when he slept at all which hadn't been often since Aya's injury.

He was too uneasy not to keep guard, waiting for Kritiker's agents to find them somehow.

But he'd been very careful about his arrangements, and had made very sure no one could tie Kudoh Yohji to Takeda Anzai, his current alias.

�Where are we?� Then another burning question in this his� resurrection. �How long have I been out?�

"As of last night, four days," Yohji told him as he knelt down beside the bed. The place was a real dump, the kind of place menial workers typically lived in, not the sort of place where anyone would expect to find a playboy assassin.

�Four days?� Aya immediately tried to sit up, to move, to get Yohji out of danger. His body played him false though and he collapsed back on the pillow, too weak to move.

�Get out of here, Kudoh. Start running and don�t look back.� What the hell had possessed the man to keep him alive? He�d told him he was a liability.

"Calm down--" Yohji smirked, "Eisen. You're getting all worked up over nothing. And you should call me Anzai. I'm your friend who's taking care of you because you got hurt on the job."

Aya simply stared at him as if he�d gone mad. �What job?� he demanded before he sighed. �Give me a drink and tell me exactly what�s been happening in the last four days.�

Yohji opened some bottled water he already had by the bed and helped Aya sit up. "Your name is Miwa Eisen and I told our landlord I'm taking care of you because you were hurt at work. My name is Takeda Anzai, and I happen to be your best friend."

Yohji's jade eyes went dark as he added, "And you know what the job was, but I told our landlord it was a freak accident while we were cleaning some machinery. That's all he knows and all you need to know to keep our story straight if he asks."

�Okay.� Aya took several sips of the water, trying not to gulp it down too quickly. He still felt too weak to argue with Yohji, something that he would have to remedy and soon if they were to survive.

�Is there anything I can eat in this flea pit?�

"Instant miso. I bought us an electric kettle. The doctor told me not to give you any solids for a few days."

�Doctor? What doctor?� If Yohji had risked a doctor then Kritiker probably knew he was alive.

"Aya if you don't take it easy you're going to start bleeding again, and I can't take you back to the doctor."

He put a hand in the middle of Aya's chest and held the man down, the pressure enough to keep Aya on flat without hurting him.

"I've got everything handled. Kritiker isn't going to find us, and they think you're dead so just relax."

Aya stared up into Yohji�s eyes. What he saw there seemed to reassure him as he stopped trying to get out of the bed and relaxed under Yohji�s hand.

A hand that felt like a brand on his chest.

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Now he had time to think he started to wonder about a lot of things.

"I'll put the kettle on. Don't you move." Yohji didn't go far. The small table where the kettle sat was at the end of the bed. Beneath it was the sack of groceries he'd gotten. Instant soup and a case of beer, a carton of cigarettes and rolls and rolls of gauze, tape and a few kinds of antibiotics to keep Aya from dying of infection.

They'd been damned lucky nothing vital had been slashed by Shion's sword. But Aya had almost bled out by the time they got to the doctor, but Yohji'd had a bad feeling about that whole thing and had called his old friend in advance, telling him to be ready just in case.

And that little hunch of his had paid off.

The pot started to whistle and Yohji opened the styrocup and poured in the hot water and grabbed himself a beer. He popped the top and downed half of it, not caring it was warm.

"If you promise me you'll stay in bed, I can go out for something better than this in a while."

�I don�t have much choice, do I?� But he soon relented. �Don�t worry. I�m too damned weak to want to get out of bed.�

He glanced round the small room noticing the lack of comfort and the single bed. There was no scent of Yohji on it so he knew the blond had either not slept at all or had grabbed short naps on the floor.

The only light in the room came from a dim nightlight near the floor, and through the open window. A whiff of rotting garbage drifted into the room from below, and the sounds of the kids running wild in the alley came up with the stink.

Yohji sighed. "Sorry about the crappy dump we're in, but I know they'd never suspect I'd come to a place like this." He put the cup of soup on the floor and helped Aya sit up. "I've got a dozen pain killers left. Do you need one?"

Aya thought about it. The neatly stitched wound was sore but not agonising and he�d rather do without drugs if he could manage it. He needed to stay sharp: to think.

�No. Just pass me the miso.�

"Okay, but don't try to play hero. If you start hurting just ask for a pill." He gave Aya the cup and a plastic spoon then returned to his seat on the window ledge, sipping his open beer and lighting up.

�I think I slept through the painful part. Biggest problem I have now is physical weakness and tightening stitches.�

The stitches he could live with having gotten used to them, the weakness was another matter entirely. He wasn�t fool enough to push too hard though and, as he had thinking to do he could use the time.

"We're paid up through the end of the week, so you've got three more days to regain some strength, then we're out of here," Yohji told him.

Outside a woman could be heard, her words summoning the children from the alley.

Yohji finished his beer and crushed the can before dropping it into the open dumpster below. "If you need more time, I can pay another week for this place but if we don't have to I'd rather not."

�Three days should be enough,� Aya said before taking a mouthful of hot miso. The warmth spread through him making him feel better.

The sound of screaming children abated and relative silence descended, the only noise being the constant sound of distant traffic. He�d listened to the woman calling the children and had finally placed the strange accent. They were somewhere in the Osaka or Kobe area.

The blond killed another butt, crushing the cherry out before slipping from the window sill to the floor with a sigh.

"If you want more just tell me, I'll get it for you. And if you need the toilet--" Yohji motioned to a bed pan, "I've got how that thing works down real good."

Aya actually blushed as he realised that his bodily functions would have continued unabated over the four days.

�Have you slept at all?� Yohji appeared to be exhausted.

"A few hours here and there." Yohji moved the couple of feet to get another beer out of the bag. He popped it open, took a swallow and went back to his place by the window.

"Don't let that miso get cold. It tastes like shit if it gets cold," Yohji warned him. Aya was awake and talking, and those simple facts took such a load off of his mind that he found himself getting sleepy.

But he didn't dare sleep. Aya sitting up and talking didn't mean Aya wasn't still in danger. He'd been badly hurt and the man was still in bad shape.

Aya took a few more spoonfuls of the soup, letting its warmth and nourishment seep into his muscles.

�You said we were safe here so I can keep watch while you get some sleep.�

Yohji shook his head. "You aren't strong enough for that, Aya. Don't be a fool, okay? You just eat and go back to sleep." He drank more of the beer and rested his head on the wall. "I'll survive this," he laughed, the sound bitter, "I always do."

�Now who�s being a fool? I�ve just slept for four solid days. I�m not even tired.�

That wasn�t strictly true. He could very easily go back to sleep.

Yohji's mouth twisted in annoyance. "Don't give me that shit, Aya. You can't even sit up without help and the instant you lay back down you'll be out for the night." He yawned. "And you're the fool here. You almost died, while the only thing wrong with me is worrying I'd go to sleep and you'd slip away."

Orchid eyes widened in surprise. �I�m pretty sure I�m going to live, Yohji, so please, get some sleep.� He frowned and put the empty soup container aside. �And not on the floor this time. Bed�s big enough for two.�

"No. I don't want to risk jarring you, Aya. I'll stay down here, it's not so bad really." He finished his beer, smashed the can and tossed it out of the window. They both heard the faint metallic sound as it hit the trash bin.

He yawned again and was about to stretch out on the floor but stopped himself. "I've got to use the toilet. It's down the hall. Do you um� need to go?"

Aya considered this then nodded.

Yohji handed him the bed pan, "I'll empty it." He turned his back to give Aya as much privacy as possible and waited.

�Um� Yohji?� Gods this was so embarrassing but he couldn�t move enough to use the damned thing without pulling on the stitches. �Could you help me please?�

"Sure," Yohji said and moved to help Aya. He hadn't put the younger man in any clothes, not wanting to stress his injuries with restrictive garments or have to fight with them so Aya could use the bed pan when he needed.

He moved the pan to the right place and helped Aya get into position. He wasn't much of a nurse, and it bothered him to see Aya so helpless, but every time he thought about how Aya had saved them from SD it gave him the patience to do what was needed.

�Thank you,� Aya said with real gratitude after he had relieved himself. He gave a soft hiss as Yohji lowered him back onto the bed. Perhaps he was trying to do too much at once.

Yohji took the pan and pulled the covers over Aya. "I'll be back soon. Rest."

He left Aya there and headed for the bathroom. It was a horrible mess, and stank terribly but he didn't care, he was just there to dump the pan and relieve himself.

When he needed a bath he'd head for the public bath house down the street. It at least was clean.

While Yohji was gone Aya started thinking. Omi�s decision had been too pat to have been a spur of the moment. It was as if he�d known he would be too hurt to argue and the suggestion of the cabin had been a deliberate death sentence. An unnoticed tear slid down his cheek as he came to terms with the fact that the boy he�d trusted not to turn into a Takatori had done just that.

Yohji got back with a rinsed bed pan. He saw the desolate expression on Aya's face and put the pan under the bed before he sat down on the edge. "You okay?" he asked and smoothed some hair away from Aya's face.

�Not really.� He turned tear bright eyes on Yohji. �How long have you known Omi couldn�t be trusted? I mean you must have spent some time arranging all this so you must have known.�

Yohji knew this was going to come sooner or later, but he'd hoped it would be much later than right this minute.

He got a beer out of the bag and sat down on the edge of the bed.

"I've always hedged my bets against Kritiker turning on us, but," he took a drink of the beer. "But I started to get suspicious of Omi about the time your friend Botan was killed. There were just some things he said, a few things he didn't say that made me uneasy."

�But� that was over a year ago. Why didn�t I see it?� But he knew the answer to that. He�d wanted to believe in Omi, to forget he was really Mamoru a hated Takatori.

"Did you want to see it, Aya? Did you want to admit that he wasn't the boy we knew, or that he was changing? Did you notice the critical looks he'd give us when he thought we wouldn't see, or the cell calls he'd get and go into another room before he'd talk? I thought he'd found a girl at first, but then I realized he didn't need a girl, he had Ken."

�Which is why you didn�t choose to make these arrangements for Ken, isn�t it? I did see those things yet I didn�t make the connection the way you did.� The tears stopped falling and his eyes went hard and blank.

�I�ll be ready to move in three days, Kudoh.�

"Ken wouldn't go. You now how he is. He's got all these ideals about loyalty and, he's in love with the kid." Yohji drank more of the beer, and favoured Aya with a wry smile. "I drink, but I don't get drunk easily. It was one thing Omi never quite figured out."

He put a hand to Aya's forehead to check for fever. Aya wasn't hot, but his skin felt too cool and that brought a frown to Yohji's mouth. "Get some sleep unless you're hungry. And I'll decide if you're strong enough to move, not you."

�Is there anymore of that miso or some tea?� Aya asked. He was too busy remembering and seeing things that had made no sense at the time in a whole different light to be able to sleep. �Omi� had died the day he got his memory back.

"I can make you some miso, or I can go down the street and get you something better. They've got great soup and their miso is a thousand times better than that crap in the cups. I just got it because I didn't want to leave you until you were lucid."

�So as well as not sleeping you�ve not been eating either? Get us both something, Yohji. Something other than just beer and smokes.�

"You want tofu in your miso? I don't think a little would hurt you."

Aya actually smiled. �That would be good. Thank you, Yohji.�

"I won't be gone long, Aya." He made sure Aya could reach the bottle of water before he grabbed his smokes, lighter and keys and headed out, locking the door behind him.

With the departure of the blond Aya had time to think again, not that his thoughts were pleasant. Omi, Shion, betrayed by two people he had trusted on a certain level. Shion had paid the ultimate price for his betrayal and Omi� Omi would never be forgiven.

He was brought back to a sense of his surroundings by furtive sounds coming from the hallway.

There was a crack from the door and it started to swing open.

Aya looked around, searching for something he could use as a weapon.

A greasy head poked into the room, the man unshaven and dirty. When he saw Aya sitting on the bed he blinked, then he stepped into the room.

"I just want the drugs and stuff you've got. If you don't try to stop me you won't get hurt."

�What drugs? You mean these over the counter painkillers?� He tossed the bottle to the man. �Here, catch.�

The man tried to grab the bottle and missed. It hit the floor and he scrambled after it as if chasing a diamond.

He scooped up the bottle in trembling hands and stared at it. "This isn't worth shit! Where's your good stuff! I know you've got better than this!" he stalked toward the man on the bed, seeing only a slender guy pale as a corpse, his belly wrapped in bandages.

He reached into his pocket and pulled out a knife, "Tell me where the good stuff is or I'll cut you!"

�Do you see anything else, dimwit? I don�t need anything stronger.� If he could get the fool close enough and somehow get hold of the knife�

The junkie spotted the bags under the small table at the end of the bed and he crouched down to look. The first bag held miso, a few bottles of water, a box of tea bags and a small bottle. He rummaged in the bag his eyes bright with the desire to find the drugs he craved.

But all he found was a bottle of some herbal supplements for people that smoked. Snarling angrily he threw the bottle and lunged for the man on the bed. "Tell me where they are!"

Aya rolled out of the way at the last moment, letting the junkie land face first on the mattress. He grabbed the wrist of the hand that held the knife and exerted what strength he had on the pressure points that would open the fingers.

The junkie bellowed in anger and struggled, unable to feel the pain, but he was losing control of the knife. Snarling, enraged, he kicked and flailed until they both hit the floor.

Aya winced as the fall broke at least three or four of the stitches in his belly and jarred his whole body.

The junkie was still struggling and he was losing strength fast. In a moment of weakness he did what he�d never done before.

�YOHJI!�

Yohji had just hit the street of the apartment having taken the stairs slower than usual because he'd been smoking so heavily the last few days.

When he heard Aya actually scream his name he stopped thinking and reacted, sprinting down the alleyway, jumping to the top edge of the dumpster. Somewhere between the street and the dumpster he'd pulled on his gloves and triggered his harigane. A slim filament of wire whipped upward and spun tightly around a pipe sticking out of the wall near the roof. He pulled himself up fast.

Inside their tiny room the junkie was scrabbling for the knife. "I'm going to kill you!"

Gods! Why did he suddenly want to live when he�d looked for death four days before? He fought as best he could, feeling more stitches burst as he struggled for the knife.

Yohji came in through the window. He wasn't even completely into the room before a loop of his wire wrapped around the crazed junkie's wrist. He pulled, nearly severing the man's wrist in the process. Jade eyes full of anger he spun a second wire around the man's throat and choked the life out of him.

"Die you son of a bitch," he snarled, the wire cutting air and blood off to the man's brain. His face turned purple and he kicked and struggled, but Yohji didn't let go.

He shoved the twitching corpse away and dropped to his knees beside "Aya! Gods, Aya, how bad are you hurt?"

He didn't even wait for an answer; he stripped off his killing gloves and looked at the blood seeping through the bandages.

�Broke some of the stitches,� Aya gasped. �He was looking for drugs.� He stared up at Yohji, realising that whenever he had need of him, the blond was there. It had always been that way.

He picked Aya up and lay him down on the bed before getting the bandages out of the bag of medical supplies. He cut the gauze around Aya off and took a look. Aya was bleeding, the wound coming open.

"Son of a bitch," he muttered as he grabbed a sterile dressing and ripped it open, pressing it to the wound.

"I shouldn't have left you alone in this rat pit."

�It just needs restitching Yohji, that�s all.� Aya looked away, embarrassed by his weakness: embarrassed that he�d screamed the blond�s name when they were supposed to be totally different people: embarrassed that he�d screamed at all.

"Yeah, and I've got nothing to stitch it with either," Yohji replied, voice a rough growl. He fumbled in the bag, trying to find anything that would hold Aya's belly closed.

"We're going to have to get the hell out of here," the blond said as he glanced at the body, the wire wrapped around the man's throat, and the broken lock on the door.

�Yohji, take it easy. We can get sutures easily enough at a pharmacy and I�m not bleeding to death this time. It�s just a few busted stitches, not the whole wound. Help me get dressed.�

He forced himself into a sitting position, wincing more from the jarring from the fall than the wound.

Yohji reached under the bed and pulled out the duffle bag he'd shoved under it. He pulled out some loose fitting clothes, sweats and a pair of sneakers that would fit Aya and put them on the bed.

The clothes weren't the only thing in the duffle. Aya's sword and a .44 magnum lay inside.

Yohji was trying not to think about the fact that the man he'd just killed was probably another victim of the drug dealers who preyed on the emotionally weak. Tried to tell himself that he'd had no choice.

But the real truth was he didn't give a shit about the man he'd just killed because he'd been trying to kill Aya.

And he wasn't about to let anyone kill Aya.

Not Shion. Not Omi. And sure as hell not some junkie just looking for a score.

Aya would be okay, he had to believe that.

Which left only one other thing to prey on his mind. The manner in which he'd killed the junkie was very identifiable as the work of a professional.

And that professional was someone whose modus operandi would be quite familiar to anyone in Kritiker who might come to investigate.

So he had two things to do now. Get Aya the hell out of the place, and make sure the body was never found because if Takeda Anzai was linked to Kudoh Yohji it would only take a tiny leap of intuition to realize that Anzai's hurt friend Eisen had to be Fujimiya Aya.

"I need to bandage you up." He said as he got the gauze out and started to wrap it around the younger man.

�Make it tight until we can get hold of sutures,� Aya said, �should help to stop it bleeding too much.� He kept still as Yohji wound the bandage round his middle his breath hitching a little at the other man�s touch.

What possessed him he didn�t know but suddenly he leaned forward and kissed Yohji.

The blond froze. Shocked as Aya's mouth closed on his.

He couldn't move. Stopped thinking.

Aya was... kissing him.

And he'd never been so stunned by anything in his whole life.

His hands moved to grip Aya's upper arms, but he didn't push him away, couldn't bring himself to do it. Not when Aya was giving him a part of himself for the first time.

But he wasn't in the habit of kissing other men and that only made it more confusing to Yohji because he wasn't disgusted by the kiss either and he always thought he'd be revolted if another man kissed him.

Aya pulled away as he remembered that Yohji was straight. He had been kind enough to allow the kiss but there had been no response. He ducked his head, unable to look Yohji in the eye, and berated himself for a fool.

For years he�d kept his little secret from the rest of Weiss, saying nothing about his sexuality even when Ken and Omi had turned to each other for comfort after both lost women they�d loved.

He�d even used Sakura as a decoy to throw them all off the scent as best he could, but it wasn�t fair on the girl and he had been relieved when the collapse of the Ani meant she believed him dead. Better that than he hurt her even worse.

�I�m sorry,� he murmured.

Yohji took a shaking breath, then shook his head. "Never apologize for kissing someone, Aya."

�You know, when Sakura was hanging around I thought you were bisexual, then I figured it out. She was just a smoke screen to throw Ken and Omi off. But I know you're gay Aya. And it doesn't bother me, okay?"

�You know? How long have you known, Yohji?� There was a spark of anger in the orchid eyes, mixed with some other, less obvious emotion.

He reached for the sweat shirt. "We need to get out of here."

He kept his outward cool, but inside there were butterflies fluttering through his belly. Aya had kissed him. He wasn't sure how he felt about it really, but he hadn't felt this nervous since he'd started dating in junior high school.

It was stupid. This was Aya. Aya his assassin team mate.

And Aya had kissed him.

Aya nodded and let Yohji help him into the sweatshirt.

"I suspected from the start. Well from a few days after you joined Weiss. You never looked at any of the girls, you know. Even Ken and Omi eyed some of them, gave them shy smiles. But not you."

He got the sweat shirt over Aya's head then bent to get him in the loose pants. For the first time he was keenly aware of Aya in a way he'd never thought of him before. Until now Aya had been all but sexless, a statue made of alabaster, mostly without any visible emotion.

But since Shion and false Weiss, he'd become vulnerable, in need of help, and Aya had called to him for help, and Aya had kissed him.

He rested his hand on a smooth warm thigh, found himself staring at the blue line of a vein under the pale skin.

His mouth went dry, and that was just stupid. This was Aya.

And he could still feel that hesitant kiss.

"Damn," he murmured and looked up at Aya from where he knelt on the floor.

There was a corpse behind him. A broken door.

But the only think he was aware of was Aya.

He rose up on his knees, reached up to gently curve his hand behind the nape of Aya's neck and leaned in to kiss him gently.

Aya blinked in surprise before shutting his eyes and returning the kiss.

It was strange, he would have thought Yohji would have been a past master at the art but instead his kiss was hesitant, like it was his first ever kiss. Then Aya realised that it probably was the first time Yohji had ever kissed another man.

He returned the gentle kiss tenderly his arms reaching up to rest on the other man�s shoulders.

Yohji wanted to push Aya back on the bed and let things take their course. His cock told him that he might just be able to handle making love to Aya though he wasn't about to give it a go with any other man.

Aya was-- well Aya was Aya and that was different than picking up some guy in a bar.

"When you're feeling better we can see where this leads, okay?" he asked as he picked up the sweat pants. "But right now we've got more pressing things to deal with." He motioned to the dead man for emphasis.

Aya nodded and pushed his feet into the sweatpants, letting Yohji ease them up his legs and over his hips. He was sweating by the time they were on properly but he would not slow Yohji down if he could help it so he endured. It was frustrating being so weak, knowing that they could have been far away by now had he not been wounded. Then again, had he been unscathed they would still be part of Kritiker instead of running and hiding.

�Get rid of him,� he said. �I can manage to get all our stuff packed.� A thought, novel in its amusement factor, crossed his mind. �I don�t suppose the miso survived did it?�

"I never made it to the restaurant, and no, the instant has died in action," Yohji replied. "Don't hurt yourself," he stated, voice harsh and commanding.

Instead of going out the broken door he slipped on his gloves, tossed the corpse into the dumpster below and slid down the wire.

"I'll be back in a few minutes."

Deciding that the restaurant would be their first port of call after leaving this rat infested flea pit, Aya began packing their few belongings. He stopped when he found the sword, convinced somewhere in his mind that it had gone off the boat with Shion. Shrugging slightly he pushed it into the duffle and closed it, looking round to see if he�d missed anything.

Yohji came back up along his wire and slipped into the room. "Ready babe?" the word had just slipped out and Yohji found himself blushing, an event that left him almost as shocked as his calling Aya 'babe' had. "Umm... I mean are you ready to go Aya?"

�I�m ready.� He had been going to add �and don�t call me babe� but Yohji�s blush and quick change of address stopped him. �You might need to help me down the stairs and into your car.�

"We aren't taking the stairs," Yohji told him as he slung the duffle over his shoulder and reached for Aya. "We're taking the fast way out of here."

Aya knew what that meant and once Yohji had him on his feet he wrapped his arms round the taller man�s neck. The feel of a strong arm round his waist was disconcerting but certainly not unpleasant.

Yohji got them out the window and started to lower them to the ground. He was aware of Aya pressed to him in a way he would not have believed possible a few minutes ago, and he fought to control himself, failing miserably, his cock going hard.

It was just insane. This was Aya and he really was straight. At least he'd always been straight... until Aya kissed him.

Aya felt Yohji�s reaction but neither said anything nor let anything in his demeanour change. He wanted to smile, to kiss the blond again, but now was not the time. Nor would it be fair to Yohji, as he would be unable to follow through until his wound was healed. He was not a tease by nature.

When they reached the bottom Yohji was breathing hard and sweating, but it wasn't from his burden carrying Aya alone, it was from the heat coiling in his balls. He stood there staring into Aya's eyes for a moment, then he leaned in closer. "You have terrible timing; do you know that, Aya?"

�Hn,� was the only response he got until Aya relented. �I�m sorry.�

"It�s okay, Aya. Until you kissed me I didn't even realize I might want to sleep with another man. I think I can hold off for a few weeks until you're strong enough to teach me."

Yohji yanked on the wire and it spun loose and dropped. He wadded it up and shoved it in his pocket. "The car's this way," he said and scooped the younger man up in his arms unwilling to take any chances with Aya.

�I can walk,� Aya immediately argued even though he wondered if he could. It wouldn�t have bothered him except that everything had changed due to his impetuosity. He should not have kissed Yohji. Now he had them both confused and, as usual, it was all his fault.

Yohji put Aya down and wrapped an arm around the smaller man. "Try then. If you can, I'm going to let you," Yohji told him and it became apparent that it wasn't just arousal that had the blond breathing hard when he coughed a few times.

�You�ve been smoking too much.� But he managed to keep on his feet and stumble towards the car that Yohji was heading for. By the time he�d reached it he�d broken out in a cold sweat and gave a small sigh of relief when he was finally sitting in the passenger seat.

"I�ve been smoking too many cheap cigarettes that Kudoh Yohji would never touch," he replied as he closed the car door and went around getting in on the driver's side.

"If we can stop, I really would appreciate that miso now. If we can't it doesn't matter."

"I'm hungry too so we can stop."

* * * * * * *

Replete with warm and tasty miso and fresh green tea, Aya had slept for most of the drive. He knew it had been a long one as he ached everywhere, even where he wasn�t wounded, and he had the joyful prospect of stitching the gaps torn in that wound to come. He opened his eyes and asked where they were.

Yohji had been driving for hours, and they'd gotten to Hiroshima in the early morning hours long before any rental offices were open. He debated getting them a cheap hotel room for a while, but the thought of letting Aya get comfortable and then making him move again didn't thrill him. Aya was already hurting and he didn't want to make things worse for the injured man.

So he drove around, eyes starting to burn from a serious lack of sleep. He had to find somewhere for them to stay. Somewhere not quite as rundown as the last place, but not anywhere the Takatori would expect them to go either.

He finally found a not too terribly shabby apartment in the lower class area of the city and stopped the car when he noticed a sign saying there was an apartment available.

"Aya?"

�I�m awake, Yohji. Where are we?� He was not thrilled by having to repeat that question. He might be wounded but he was damned if he was going to be treated like a child.

He looked around, seeing nothing outside the car that he recognised and frowned until his orchid eyes fell on the sign Yohji had spotted. �Will they let us in this early in the morning?�

"We're in Hiroshima. The manager's office is in the building. I'll see if it's open."

Yohji's eyes were showing how long he'd been awake, the whites bloodshot, dark circles under his eyes. He pushed his sunglasses up and leaned on the roof of the car.

"Will you be okay while I go? Do you need anything?"

�I�m fine, Yohji.� But he was hoping that the office was open even though it was so early. He needed to stretch his cramped body before having to face the ordeal of more stitches.

And Yohji needed to sleep before he collapsed from exhaustion.

"Try and rest, I'll see if anyone is here and take care of getting us a place. Hopefully it won't be too expensive." He smiled faintly and patted Aya's shoulder. "I'll take care of you Aya. That's a promise."

He turned and headed for the office, seeing a light on inside gave him the hope the place was already open.

Aya almost snarled at Yohji�s words. He didn�t need taking care of! But that was a lie and he had to admit as much when memories of the intruder and needing help with a bedpan intruded on his anger. Until this damned wound healed he was almost helpless.

Yohji got to the office door and tried it, finding the door unlocked he went inside, putting on his most winning smile.

A tiny old woman looked up from her magazine and glowered at him. She saw a rumpled, unshaven young man and her first instinct was to tell him to leave. However his smile was both kind and genuine and who was she to judge someone just for falling on hard times.

�Can I help you?�

"I saw the sign. If the apartment is still available I'd like to see it, if you're open. If not I can come back later." He continued to smile, but worry about Aya was gnawing at him. The red-head had looked just awful, tired and pale, pain creasing his forehead, dulling his eyes.

The old woman glanced out of the window at the car parked outside and its passenger. If anything the attractive redhead looked even worse for wear than the blond. �For both of you is it?� She made a decision. �Twenty thousand yen per week, four weeks up front.�

Yohji had really wanted to see the place first, but he was too tired to really care. He nodded and reached into his pocket pulling out some wadded up money and counting out eighty thousand onto the desk. It was all the cash he had which mean a visit to an ATM. "I can give you the rest after I find a bank or money machine."

He was waiting for the questions, and the papers for him to sign, silently praying that she'd let them take occupancy now, rather than making them wait until they got the rest of the money.

He looked up at her, the smile fading. He was so tired, and he still had to get Aya to the apartment, get him situated and go and get more money. "Would it be all right to take my friend up? He was hurt at work a few days ago and its so bad he can't work and I can't leave him alone." He sighed, "We're living off our savings right now."

�I�m surprised you didn�t ask to see the place. It�s not up it�s the one on the ground floor at the back. It�s not huge but it�s clean. As for the rest of the money, I would get some sleep first if I were you.� She took another look at the redhead in the car.

�I don�t believe for one moment he was hurt at work but I won�t ask questions except for one. Are you two Yakuza?�

"Yakuza?" Yohji asked genuinely shocked at the question. For once he was glad that his tattoo was well covered and easy to keep hidden. "No. We're not Yakuza."

The old lady shrugged. �Pity. My grandson�s Yakuza. He could�ve introduced you to the local clan. Never mind.� She peered at him closely. �Are the police looking for you?�

Yohji debated how to answer that. If he said yes it left them open to suspicions that might be too interesting to her Yakuza grandson. But since her grandson was Yakuza it stood to reason she didn't have any love for cops. Chances were she'd try to keep cops away from her building which might just include not being very forthcoming if asked any questions by people she didn't know who acted too much like cops. People like Kritiker agents for instance.

"Not around here they aren't," he replied, taking the middle ground.

She nodded. �That�s good. From your accent I�m guessing Tokyo. No telling what goes on up there. Anyway bring your friend in and get him comfortable then get some sleep. There�s two beds and nobody who doesn�t already live here will get past me.�

"Thanks. I really appreciate your kindness. Is there anything else you need from me? Names or anything like that?" He had the impression she didn't keep much by way of records. He also got the feeling that they might just have moved from a rat hole to a den of the same sort of 'dark beasts' they'd once hunted.

And if that was true it might just serve their purposes to be in such a den where Takatori Mamoru would never think to search for them.

She cocked her head to one side and regarded him shrewdly. �Well if you�re on the run with a wounded man I doubt you�d give me your real names anyway so� just give me whatever you can remember and will answer to.�

She reached under the desk and extracted some keys. �Now let�s get your friend off the street and into a bed shall we?�

"Well you can call me Tomori Junzo and I'll probably answer to the name," Yohji told her using the second set of Ids he'd had made, not wanting to link them to the pair of men who'd just left Osaka. He was careful not to mention where the accident had happened.

"And yeah, we need to get him somewhere he can rest."

He went out to the car. "Come on, we've got an apartment." He opened the door and leaned in closer to Aya, ostensibly to undo his seatbelt. "Right now you don't even need a name, but we need to stay low profile. We've got a building probably full of Yakuza here," he whispered as he undid Aya's seat belt and then backed up to open the door.

He glanced at the old woman and then reached in to help Aya to his feet.

�Yakuza? Oh that�s rich.� Aya reached up and let Yohji help him out of the car and onto his feet. He felt a little stronger but still bone tired and he had the sense to realize that Yohji must feel just as bad if not worse.

He glanced at the old woman before nodding to her in unspoken thanks. She reminded him of Momoe-san, seemingly harmless but with a wealth of secrets behind her wrinkled brow.

Then he headed for the building, determined that Yohji would not have to carry him this time.

Yohji grabbed the duffle bag and their couple bags of pitiful food and supplies and followed the younger man, making sure he was close enough to catch Aya if he started to crumple.

"As soon as you're settled I'm going to go get some more money and food," he told Aya, knowing the old woman was hearing him. "We've got to build your strength back up."

Aya turned his head to stare at Yohji. �No,� he said. �Money and food can wait. You need sleep.�

�He�s right,� the old woman said eliciting a glare from Aya which she ignored. �The door locks and nobody gets past me besides residents.� She came closer looking from one exhausted young man to the other before saying softly, �I know you�re on the run from something and I don�t believe it�s a Yakuza clan so I�m prepared to help you even if it is only to keep watch.�

�Why?� Aya was always suspicious of unsolicited help.

The old woman smiled revealing rotting teeth. �Let�s just say I have a weakness for pretty young men.�

Aya stared at her for a moment before nodding. �Thank you.�

Yohji stumbled over nothing, and frowned. He was a lot more tired than he'd thought, and lying down and getting some sleep sounded very good to him. Silently he had to agree that Aya was pretty. Hell, glancing from the corner of his eye he would have said Aya was beautiful, but he wasn't about to encourage that particular type of speculation from the woman. And really, he wasn't gay, but Aya... Well Aya could probably have gotten a rise from a dead man, and Yohji certainly wasn't dead.

The woman showed the way to an apartment at the back of the house. It wasn�t huge but the bedroom did have two beds and was at least separate to the kitchen. It had its own bathroom and was both clean and bright with the early morning sun coming through the windows. Windows that opened onto a small, well kept garden surrounded by a high wall.

Aya glanced around and actually smiled.

Yohji set the groceries down in the kitchen, put the duffle down and headed for the curtains over the windows, pulling them closed.

He couldn�t even look at the beds without yawning, which he did, covering his mouth politely and turning away in an effort not to be rude to their landlady.

The blond just wanted to collapse and not get up for two or three days. Not practical, and he couldn�t lay down until he had Aya properly bandaged, but the bed was singing a seductive song in his tired mind and he found it difficult not to just say �fuck it� and go lay down.

Aya was staring at the woman as if trying to read her intentions towards them. �Can you set sutures? I don�t think my friend can see straight enough to do it with any degree of accuracy and I don�t want an even worse scar than the one I�m likely to end up with.�

She smiled. �You might not be Yakuza but you�re similar animals. I can stitch your wound, young man.�

Yohji sank onto one of the kitchen chairs. �I can do it. I just need a minute to pull myself together.�

�You need to sleep.� With his return to the land of the living Aya had regained all of his stubborn and bossy streak. �Go to bed.�

Yohji didn�t even have the energy to argue, but he wasn�t going to leave Aya in the hands of a total stranger either.

�In a while. I�m hungry,� he muttered and got up to fumble around, fishing out the electric kettle from the duffle and get the instant miso out of the bag.

He was too tired or he would never have left the duffle open with the grip of a pistol showing.

The woman saw it of course and glanced at Aya to find eyes as cold as frozen gemstones fixed upon her. She wanted to say something along the lines of, there, I knew you were Yakuza but that cold, thoughtful gaze stopped her. Whatever they were, even tired and wounded they were dangerous.

�Let me see what needs to be stitched.� Whatever they were it was better not to know.

Aya continued to stare at her until he suddenly nodded and moved towards one of the beds. �Slash wound in my belly. It was almost healed but I bust a couple of the sutures last night.�

Yohji filled the kettle and plugged it in, his mind finally grasping the fact that this place was spotless and minus any sign of roaches. Two major plusses in his book.

Aya let himself sink onto the bed but was unable to bend enough to remove the sneakers that Yohji had put on his feet last night.

�Lift your legs up. I�ll deal with the shoes.� She removed the sneakers and encouraged Aya to swing his long legs round till he was lying on the bed. She lifted the sweatshirt enough to see stained wrappings and muttered to herself.

�You, whatever your name is, save some of the hot water from that kettle.�

�I�m Junzo, and he�s Korin,� Yohji told her, giving the woman the names from the second set of IDs he had for them. After the shit that happened at the other apartment he didn�t want any connection between those names and this place.

In fact, now that he was thinking of it, he�d get rid of the car as soon as he could just to delete any ties with the other names.

She shrugged. �Whatever you say�Junzo. Just pass me a bowl of hot water, the sutures, cotton wool and any antiseptic you might have. In fact just give me the lot.�

Yohji got what she wanted, dumping them on the bed beside Aya and setting the bowl of hot water on the bedside table.

�Maybe I should do this,� he said, giving Aya a meaningful �we shouldn�t trust her this much� look.

�Maybe you should drink your miso and sit down before you fall down!�

And strangely Aya actually chuckled at her words. He knew Yohji wouldn�t rest until he�d watched her do this to be assured she didn�t do anything stupid but the blond was on his last legs and didn�t need the added chore of sorting out his wound.

The woman worked swiftly and silently, a sure testament that she�d done this before. Once she had Aya bandaged again she tipped away the blood-tinged water before turning to smile at them.

�There�s a bolt on the inside of the door if you want to use it but you won�t be disturbed.� Then she left them to it, shutting the door behind her.

Yohji locked the door and shoved the nearest chair in front of it for good measure. He got the pistol and Aya�s katana out of the duffle, set the sword down on the bed beside the injured man, put the cup of miso on the table near Aya and stumbled to the other bed.

He didn�t lay down so much as collapse onto it, shoving the pistol under the pillow.

�If I don�t show any signs of life when you wake up, just poke me until I do.� He yawned, closed his eyes and dropped toward sleep the way a rock fell through water.

Aya smiled to himself, glad to see Yohji finally get some much needed rest. He drank the miso which strengthened him even further before falling asleep himself.

When he woke up it was to late afternoon sunlight and Yohji�s gentle snores coming from the other bed. He wasn�t prepared to disturb the blond who needed the sleep badly so he eased himself out of the bed and made his slow way to the kitchen to put the kettle on to boil for some tea.

Normally Yohji could have slept through most anything. But these weren�t normal times and the soft sounds Aya was making brought him out of sleep.

He quickly identified what the noises were and debated going back to sleep, but rejected the idea for a number of reasons, not the least of which was a painfully tight bladder.

The blond sat up, rubbed his face and forced himself to leave the warm comfort of the bed. He�d been so tired he hadn�t even taken his shoes off.

He stumbled for the bathroom, only too happy to have one in their apartment this time rather than being forced to use the hellpit that passed for a toilet in the rathole they�d hidden out in.

Aya sighed and poured a second bowl of tea taking both bowls back into the bedroom and setting one down by the side of Yohji�s bed before seeking his own again. It still hurt to be up and about for too long.

Yohji came back, picked up the tea, drank it down and started rummaging through the duffle looking for some clean clothes. �I�m going to take a shower and head out. Gun�s under my pillow,� he said as he headed for the bathroom.

�Where are you going?�

�Bank to get the rest of the money for the old woman. And then I�m going get us some clean clothes and food that doesn�t say �just add water� because I�m sick of it. . Anything you want in particular?� Yohji replied as he paused in the bathroom door. He hadn�t had a good shower in days and he was looking forward to that and getting the beard stubble off his face.

Aya thought about the question, deciding he could probably manage something a bit more substantial than miso and tea once the blond returned. �Some egg noodles with prawns and mushrooms would be nice.� He smiled slightly. �I�ll trust your judgement on the clothes.�

"Noodles, prawns and mushrooms sound good now that you mention it. Duck noodles would be great too, and I'm really hungry too."

Yohji already had the water adjusted and he got into the shower, sighing at the feel of steaming water running over his body.

Which made him think of a mouth on his and arms around him.

Aya sipped his tea and wondered if he should have kissed Yohji the way he had. It was an act of madness born of pent up frustration after years of celibacy in a confined space with the object of his desires.

Yohji.

Good as it felt, he didn�t stay in the shower longer than it took to shave and get clean. He dressed and came out of the small bathroom.

�Last chance to tell me about anything specific you want, other than the prawn and mushroom noodles.�

�Anything that�s not too difficult to digest. And more tea if we need it.� He yawned wanting to go back to sleep but not prepared to do so until after Yohji had gone.

�I�ll see what I can find and get more tea,� Yohji replied. He grabbed the car keys and paused, smiled and took Aya in his arm and kissed him.

When he broke the kiss he stood there as if waiting to hear Aya snarl shi-ne. �I just had to make sure that my memory of you kissing me wasn�t a product of an overtired mind,� he explained.

Aya took a deep breath. �No,� he said gruffly, �you didn�t imagine it.� He was silent for several seconds before adding, �Be careful.�

Then he smiled.

Yohji just stared. Aya was... smiling! He was actually smiling, and that made Yohji kiss him again for the sheer hell of it.

There was no protest from Aya, one arm going round the blond�s shoulders as he returned the kiss for a moment before letting go due to the stretching of his restitched wound.

"Lock the door after I leave and go back to bed," Yohji all but ordered, but he was smiling. He gave Aya another light kiss. "You need to get healed up so you can make love with me, okay?"

Not that Yohji would climb into bed with just any man, but the thought of kissing and, well making love with Aya was an incredibly erotic idea that got the blond hard just thinking about it.

A crimson brow rose at both Yohji�s tone and his words. If they could escape Kritiker, he believed they might have the hope in their future that had been completely missing from their past.

�Get out of here, Yohji, before the stores shut for the night!�

"You owe me," the blond murmured. "And I intend to get my pay back as soon as you're strong enough."

He gave Aya another kiss and headed for the door. "Stay in bed and rest." He turned at the door and grinned as he pushed the couch out of the way. "And get used to the bed. You might be staying in it a lot.�

The other brow rose at that and Aya �hned� softly. �Just go you oversexed idiot!�

Yohji smiled. "You'll learn to appreciate that aspect of me, Aya. I promise you that," Yohji stated as he opened the door. "I'll be back as soon as I can, but it's going to take me a few hours. Try to sleep, I'll bring food."

Now that Yohji had made up his mind he couldn't wait for the chance to show Aya what he could do in bed. Of course he wasn't sure how some of the things he knew would translate, but the fact that he could go all night always helped.

At least with women.

Aya shut his eyes and shook his head slightly. He knew that kiss had been a mistake. It had only happened because he�d been so vulnerable at the time. And now Yohji was acting like he was one of his girlfriends.

He chuckled softly after the door had closed and he�d settled down for some more healing sleep.

Yohji had a few surprises in store.

* * * * * * *

Yohji got through his errands in almost record time except for the sale of the car which took longer than he wanted it too. But in the end he got rid of the car and bought a different one-- a well maintained but not terribly expensive domestic sports car-- made the rest of his purchases and got back only a couple hours after dark.

He�d also bought them a pair of cell phones, ones that they could just discard if needed. He didn�t like the fact that Aya had no way to contact him if there was a problem, and he�d been gone long enough to make him uneasy.

He was just pulling up to the place when he saw a group of young men going into the old lady�s place. His green eyes narrowed when he noted the tattoos.

Yakuza then. Just what he didn�t need tonight. But they closed the door after them and he gathered up all his purchases-- including their food-- and hurried past to the apartment.

The apartment was empty. There was no sign of Aya anywhere. Then his deep voice was heard from behind Yohji.

�You�d better come and see this.� He was at the door to the office two of the Yakuza clan gazing curiously over his shoulders. �Our former friend didn�t waste any time.�

He stepped aside so Yohji could see the TV screen in the office. There were pictures of both of them and the voice over was saying that they were armed, extremely dangerous, and should not be approached. Any information leading to their capture by the authorities would be well rewarded.

Anger flashed in his gaze. �So he knows you�re alive or he just wants to cover all his bases. Either way it�s about what I expected.� He reached into one of the numerous bags and showed Aya a box of hair dye. �I�ve got enough for both of us.�

There was a stir as bodies moved out of the way and the old lady appeared at the door.

�The authorities don�t know you�re here and they�re not going to know from us. You rest up here until your friend is strong enough to make a run for it. We can even get you to the airport as I don�t think staying in Japan would be a good idea.�

The blond was staring at the TV even though the news story had already changed. �No, probably not.� He glanced at Aya. �We�ll decide what to do once he�s better.�

�In the mean time let me arrange to get your shopping,� the old lady said.

�We shouldn�t impose on you for more than a week,� Aya told her. �All that�s wrong with me now is soreness and the need to get my muscles working again.� He was not going to admit weakness to a stranger.

Yohji thought about it then added, �I can pay for some protection. I�ve got some savings.� He wasn�t going to admit exactly how much savings he had but he wanted to give them some kind of incentive to help rather than find out later that the yakuza wanted a �favour� for their assistance.

But the old woman frowned at him. �You�ve paid for your apartment up front, that�s all that was needed. Anything else is on the house. Nothing owed on either side. We don�t betray our own.�

Aya almost laughed. Up to a week ago they�d have thought nothing of killing her clan if so ordered yet now she considered them alike. He supposed in a way that they were. He turned to thank her.

�The best thanks you two can give me is staying out of sight and not getting caught.�

Yohji regarded her for a moment, then nodded. �Fair enough. Come on, you need to get some food into you and I need to dye my hair darker before I go anywhere else.�

Aya didn�t argue, instead he followed Yohji back to their apartment. Once safely inside he said, �They�ve been showing that all afternoon and evening. I just wish I knew what the motives were. Does� whoever Omi�s become want verification of our deaths?�

�Yours maybe, but my guess is that he�s pissed I�ve vanished.� He set the bags down and got Aya�s prawn and mushroom noodles out. �Here eat.�

He sat down at the kitchen table and started to read the instructions on the hair dye. He�d dyed it when he was younger just so he didn�t stand out so much, but that was a long time ago, and the dye was one he�d never used.

It was almost true black, and he knew he�d hate how he looked, but there was no alternative. Blond hair stood out in Japan like a bull would on a bus.

Aya sat down opposite him having retrieved some chopsticks from a drawer and pulled the carton towards him. "What about you? Are you going to eat?"

"I ate a burger at the mall," Yohji replied as he took his shirt off and headed for the bathroom. "And there's a noodle place about a block from here so that makes it a bit easier for us food wise at least."

Aya took a mouthful of the dish and chewed, surprised by just how good the noodles actually were. "If this came from there, you're right.�

"It did. The place smelled good, how does it taste?" Yohji asked as he put on the gloves that would protect his hands from the dye.

"Good, it tastes really good." Aya was watching the preparations with a sinking feeling. He loved Yohji's unusual hair colour but knew it had to go for now. He wasn't nearly so bothered by the idea of losing his own blood red colouring. "Is that stuff permanent or the sort that washes out over a couple of months?"

"It will wash out in a couple of weeks. I got some for you too," Yohji said as he dumped the stuff into his hair. "Though since you aren't going out for now you can leave yours alone."

Yohji sneezed as the stuff hit his hair. "Yep, same reaction. I quit dying it because this..." he sneezed again, "stuff makes me sneeze."

"If you're allergic to it, maybe you shouldn't use it." Aya finished his food and sat back in the chair, not really enthralled with the idea of going back to bed just yet. "Do you need some help?"

"It doesn't break me out or anything, it's just something about the..." the blond sneezed, "smell." He had about half of the stuff in his hair when the sneezing got out of control and he staggered out of the bathroom. "Confined space," an explosive sneeze staggered Yohji, "makes it worse."

Aya climbed to his feet and went into the bathroom to retrieve the rest of the dye. "Sit down. I'll finish it off. Give me the gloves."

Yohji turned the gloves over to Aya and parked himself in a chair. "Thanks," he muttered as he reached for a paper napkin to blow his nose.

Aya spread the dye evenly through Yohji's hair then read the instructions. "It has to stay on for twenty minutes. Can you hold out with the sneezing for that long?"

Yohji nodded and wiped his nose. "Yeah, I can make it." He held the paper napkin over his nose to try to block some of the smell.

"When I'm done I'm going to go get something else to eat. I'm think I'm getting hungry and that place isn't open as late as most places are." He gave Aya a wan smile, "We can hold off doing your hair until we're ready to leave."

"If you bought some fresh food I can cook while that stuff takes." Aya started rummaging in the grocery bags and found plenty of ingredients with which to make Yohji a meal. "The less you go out the better even with dark hair."

He found pots and pans and a rice cooker and began making Yohji a meal. "When my hair needs dying I'll do it. No point in you having another sneezing fit."

"Oh I got you a different colour. It might not bother me the way this one does. "

Yohji dug into the bag and got out some of the magazines he'd bought to keep himself amused. One of them featured a movie starlet with rather impressive tits. He smiled at the picture, eyes roaming over the shape of her breasts. No Japanese girl he'd ever seen had boobs like that, but to his keen eyes they didn't seem to be fake.

"Women don't interest you at all, do they Aya?"

Now what the hell had brought that question on? Aya glanced across the kitchen and spotted the picture. He grimaced. "No."

Change the subject!

"So if you didn't get me black dye, what colour did you get?" He turned back to his food preparation more to hide his confusion than to actually watch the food cook.

"Sable brown. You're too pale to have black hair," Yohji replied as he opened the magazine to the article about the starlet. The interior pictures showed even more exposed cleavage and Yohji felt his cock stir.

He sighed and flipped the page before he had another raging hard-on like the two he'd gotten while he'd been girl watching at the mall. Or the one before it when he'd kissed Aya.

He looked up at the broad shoulders and narrow hips of the red-haired man. It didn't make any sense. Not a single man at the mall had so much as interested him so why Aya? What was it about him that was different?

Jade eyes studied the other man, narrowing as Yohji engaged in some mental self-analysis. Was it his beauty?

He'd seen plenty of J-rockers as attractive as Aya, and none of them had done more than draw his passing interest because they could dress up and pass as women if the clothes and makeup were elaborate enough.

How could Aya affect him while no other man did?

Aya put a simple meal of rice and stir-fry in front of Yohji and made them both some tea before sitting down opposite his friend.

His friend.

It had taken him years to realise that they actually were friends. Perhaps it wasn't such a good idea to change that for anything else. Although Yohji seemed very keen for him to heal so they could have sex.

That thought opened up a whole new can of worms. What if the sex drove them apart rather than brought them together? And Yohji obviously found women attractive.

He glanced at the clock. Five more minutes before it was time to wash out the dye.

Yohji started to eat. �This is good, as usual, Aya.�

"So tell me where do you think we should go to get away from Kritiker?"

Aya shrugged. "We obviously have to leave Japan. I don't know if Kritiker is global but we both speak English so England, America, Australia or New Zealand might be worth considering. I don't care too much as long as we get away from Omi's plans for us."

"Well we can decide later, or maybe go one place then take a flight elsewhere to throw him off." He got up, "Time to get this crap out of my hair. I'll be back in a few."

Another explosive sneeze convinced Aya that he'd better help remove the dye. He followed Yohji into the bathroom.

When Aya entered the bathroom it was to find a totally naked Yohji just about to get into the shower. Jade eyes raised from the tap to regard Aya, the blond's cock went hard and Yohji stepped quickly into the shower.

Aya flushed to the roots of his hair. "Sorry. I thought you might want some help." Then he fled the bathroom as quickly as his sore midriff would let him.

Yohji might like women but it seemed that he liked him too. He frowned finding that thought confusing. How could Yohji like both?

Yohji sighed and watched Aya flee, the offer of 'help' making his already hard cock twitch at the images it created in the blond's mind. Images that were entirely composed of graphic ways in which Aya could help him.

"This is going to kill me. I swear to the gods it is."

He got the dye out of his hair, and got his cock under control, towelled off and went to talk to Aya.

He was tired after his exertions that late afternoon and evening, the few things he'd done being the most he'd attempted willingly since being wounded.

It was strange how things turned out. He'd gone to meet Shion fully expecting to die and now here he was considering a whole new life and the possibility of Yohji having sex with him. He didn't think in terms of a relationship. That would be far too much to expect of the woman-chasing blond.

He glanced up as Yohji entered the room. Make that the woman chasing brunet. Strangely, he liked the darker hair as it brought out the green of Yohji's eyes.

Yohji went right to where Aya was sitting and knelt at his feet with his back to Aya. He was wearing nothing but a towel and his usual half-smile. "How does it look? Any places where the dye didn't take?"

Aya gazed at the dark hair carefully. It was perfectly covered. "No," he said. His hands lifted from his lap almost of their own volition and he ran them down the smooth skin of Yohji's back silently cursing his own weakness both at wanting to touch the other man and being too weak still to do anything about it.

Yohji leaned into the touch. Eyes closing he gave a quiet sigh. It felt good, those hands. "You confuse me, Aya. I've never wanted another man before, and now I find I want you all because of a kiss."

Aya's hands stilled before he removed them and stood up. He made his way to his bed and lay down on it with a slight sigh of relief. "You confuse me too but don't make any rash decisions on the strength of one kiss. I should never have done it. I'm not in the habit of teasing straight men."

Yohji followed Aya to his bed and stood looking at him. "I'm not in the habit of deciding I want to have sex with other men, so we're even." He leaned down until he was close enough to kiss Aya, but he didn't. "But I know you, Aya. You never do anything you don't mean."

A hand stroked gently through Aya's hair. "And I'm not in the habit of leading gay men on, so when you're feeling better I think we're going to have to work this out, don't you?"

He smiled, and dropped to his knees beside the bed. He was still running his finger through Aya's hair. "I wanted to save you, and until today I didn't understand my motivation for that. I think I do now."

He kissed Aya gently, then sat back. "I think it was..." Yohji shook his head. "I'm not going to say it, Aya. You can work it out in your head the way I had to."

Aya stared at him for long moments. "I remember being glad it was you with me when I thought I was going to die," he said eventually. "Just never believed I stood a chance. Then, when I needed you in that last rat hole, you were there. I...I appreciated that."

Yohji smoothed the hair from Aya's face, his touch very gentle. "I won't let anyone hurt you if I can help it, Aya. I mean it."

The violet eyes narrowed. "You think I can't look after myself? It's only this damned wound that stops me." But he was thinking, I don't know what I'd do if anything happened to you. He relented. "Nor will I allow anyone to harm you if I can prevent it."

"Okay so we've made our little pact," Yohji muttered, and got to his feet, his cheeks showing a bit of colour, embarrassed by what they'd just said to one another. "Go to sleep."

Aya wanted to argue but his body was telling him to sleep so he curled up and closed his eyes.

* * * * * * *

A week later he was almost at full strength and minus the stitches. They were still in the same apartment but knew they would have to move soon, the hunt for them having intensified.

Yohji came in from his most recent grocery and smokes run. He set the stuff down on the kitchen table and pulled out a beer, popping it open and taking a drink.

"So Aya, any idea where you want to go? We need to get out of Hiroshima. I think I spotted a Kritiker agent snooping around the apartment building down the street."

Aya, hair now a deep shade of non-descript brown, paused in the process of cutting off his eartails to match the length of the rest of his unruly bangs. �I�m strong enough now to get on a plane. If you want to go somewhere that isn�t our final destination first that�s probably a good idea.�

Yohji watched the demise of the eartails with a heavy heart. He'd liked them, had thought about pulling on them as he made love to Aya.

Something that had yet to happen.

Neither of them had talked about it, nor had Aya tried to kiss him and Yohji was getting the feeling that Aya hadn't really intended to kiss him, that it had been his timely rescue and Aya's weakness that led him to do something he really didn't mean.

Yohji drank more of the beer. "Let's try a shorter flight. Hong Kong, or maybe Seoul in Korea. That way if you can't take it, we can at least stay a few days to give you more time before we move on."

"My goal is to get us to America. We can vanish off Kritiker radar completely there."

�America? Why America especially? Wouldn�t it be better to go to England? At least they drive on the same side of the road there.� But there was an amused sparkle in Aya�s eyes as he spoke.

"Because America is pretty big and there are a lot of Asians living there. The chances of anyone finding us in the USA are pretty small. England is a much smaller country, and being Japanese I think we'll stand out more."

His expression changed as he thought more seriously about their first stop. �Hong Kong, I think. There are still quite a lot of English speakers there and neither of us speaks either Korean or Cantonese.�

Yohji grinned, "Actually I speak just enough Korean to get a date, or get slapped."

�Really useful, Kudoh, we�re definitely going to Hong Kong then!�

He wanted to kiss Yohji again, but he wouldn't until they were safely out of Japan.

Yohji got out of the kitchen chair and crossed the room. He put his arms around Aya and pressed himself to the younger man's lean body. "Now tell me something, was it your intention to lead me on and dump me, or were you serious about that kiss?"

�I was serious, Yotan. But I wasn�t prepared to tease you while I couldn�t do anything about it and now I think it would be safer to wait till we�re out of the country.�

"Safer but not more comfortable for me," Yohji murmured as he lowered his head to the side of Aya's neck. "Something's come up that needs to be dealt with before we get on a plane." He pressed his pelvis to Aya's behind to show the man exactly what had 'come up.'

One now darkened brow rose. �You really think that�s such a good idea with a Kritiker agent just down the road, Kudoh?�

"He won't get past the old lady, you can count on that," Yohji told him. "And if he does, he won't live long enough to make any report."

He nibbled along Aya's neck. "Teach me how to make love to another man, Aya. I want to learn."

Aya closed his eyes and sighed in pleasure. �You�re already doing well, Yohji. Are� are you sure you want me?�

Yohji turned Aya around and took his hand, pressing it to his throbbing erection. "What do you think?"

�You want my honest opinion? I think you want to treat me like one of your women and I�m not, Yohji. It can�t be that way between us. There will be times when I want to take the lead, to do the fucking. I don�t know if you could respond to that.�

Yohji just smiled. "And you think that's going to scare me? Aya, I haven't done this with men, but that doesn't mean my ass hasn't seen some use."

Aya stared. "Okay, now I want to know how you managed that." There was the slightest of smiles playing round his mouth as his imagination ran riot.

"Dildos, vibrators, anal plugs. You know the usual toys that are fun for grown ups." He crouched down slightly, wrapped his arms around Aya and lifted the smaller man so they were nose to nose. He gave Aya a sexy smile and kissed him.

Aya�s arms went round Yohji�s neck and he returned the kiss, showing more passion than he had in their previous kisses. Now he was almost back to full strength he wasn�t sure that he could hold back at all and he ground his lips against Yohji�s, demanding and submissive at the same time.

Yohji returned the kiss with increasing fervour, his tongue slipping between Aya's lips and delving into the other man's mouth, the blond moaning softly as his own passion increased.

He did want Aya.

Aya let him explore at his own pace, not wanting to do anything that would make him draw back. His lips parted enough to let Yohji explore and his tongue danced with the older man�s.

Yohji's kiss was aggressive, passionate, and he managed to shift his grip without dropping Aya, so that his hands were pressed to Aya's firm butt cheeks.

Aya bent his knees and lifted his legs round Yohji�s waist without pausing in the kiss. He�d waited too long for this to stop now.

The blond deepened the kiss, his tongue tangling with Aya's in a sensual exchange of desire. His cock was hard and aching, wanting the man in his arms as much as he'd ever desired any woman.

Aya moaned low in his throat wanting far more than a kiss now. His own hard shaft pressed against Yohji�s flat belly.

Yohji carried Aya to the bed and laid him down, not even breaking the kiss. With Aya on the bed it freed Yohji's hands to explore, which he started to do, hands going under Aya's shirt to touch the red-head's flat belly, finger tips sliding along smooth skin.

Aya arched into the gentle touches as his fingers reached for the fastenings of Yohji�s clothing, almost frantic to see the other man naked.

Yohji let Aya undress him as he continued his exploration of Aya's body, hands finding their way up his chest to brush his thumbs over hardened nipples. He lowered his head and nibbled along the side of Aya's neck, feeling goosebumps rise on the younger man's skin.

"I want you, Aya," he murmured. To prove it he reached over to the bedside table and got out a small bottle of lube and pressed it into Aya's hand.

Aya frowned in confusion. �You want me to fuck you?�

"Unless you don't want to, Aya. I'm happy to do anything you want," Yohji told him. He smiled. "No pressure. Do what you want, okay?"

�I thought it might be easier for you to fuck me until you get used to the idea that I�m another man.�

"I'd be more worried that I'd do something to hurt you." He kissed Aya's throat. "I've trusted you at my back for years on missions, Aya; I think I can trust you to be my first male lover."

One of his rare smiles lit Aya�s face. �I doubt if you�d hurt me but we�ll do it your way.�

Yohji touched Aya's cheek, smiling at the younger man. He kissed Aya, enjoying the feel of that smile under his mouth.

Aya ran his hands over Yohji�s lean body, feeling the whipcord muscle under the smooth golden skin.

Those firm hands caressing him felt different than a woman's hands, and it hit Yohji that he was about to have sex with the man he'd been living with, killing with for a couple of years.

He shivered, and twined his tongue with Aya's, a soft moan coming from him.

Aya rolled them both over without breaking the kiss. One hand moved to a nipple and strong fingers tweaked it, making it stand up from Yohji�s chest.

Yohji groaned and wrapped both arms around Aya, his tongue slipping along Aya's. His cock was throbbing, aching to be touched and stroked by the other man's strong hands.

Finally Aya pulled away from the kiss and moved down Yohji�s body, sucking at the other nipple before blowing cool air across sensitised skin. He smiled and moved lower taking the head of Yohji�s erection in his mouth and running his tongue across the slit to lap at the pre-come there.

Yohji groaned at the feel of Aya's mouth on his cock. It felt so good and he reached for the younger man, caressing the darkened hair, fingers tangling in it as his other hand skimmed along the pale skin of Aya's shoulder.

"Aya..." he moaned the man's name as a tongue swept across the head of his cock.

Aya wrapped a hand round the root of Yohji�s cock and began to suck in earnest his mouth sliding up and down the silken shaft.

The blond moaned, his grip in Aya's hair tightening. It felt good, and Yohji wondered how many lovers Aya might have had. If he'd been a virgin when he was pulled into Kritiker or if he'd had a boyfriend in school.

He didn't think about it very long because the mouth around his cock was very talented and the pleasure he was being given drove such thoughts from his mind.

Aya continued to suck, loving the taste and scent of Yohji, while a lube-slicked finger teased at the blond�s pucker, gently easing its way inside.

Yohji groaned, fighting to keep control, not wanting to come yet. "Slow down," he moaned, "or you'll make me lose it." The blond chuckled, gasped at the feel of the finger invading him and moaned as Aya's tongue swept over the head of his cock. "Not that I'd mind, of course."

Aya let go of Yohji�s cock and smirked. �But I want you to lose it, Yohji.� A look of feigned innocence crossed his features. �Unless of course you only have the stamina to come once?�

Yohji grinned. "Even staggering drunk I can do better than once. Sober, well, I'm not sure you've got the stamina to handle me, Aya."

�Is that a challenge, Yo-tan?� Aya drew out the old nickname much as Ken might have done when pissed at the blond. �If so I feel pretty certain I can rise to it.� As if to demonstrate what he meant he moved slightly so Yohji got a good view of his rock hard erection.

Yohji smirked. "Well now, is that what I think it is?" As if to confirm his suspicions, the blond grabbed Aya by the shoulders and all but threw him onto his back, holding him there and studying Aya's stiff cock critically.

"Yep, Aya you've got an erection." He winked and bent down as if intending to take a closer look, but what he did was lap at the bead of pre-come, the tip of his tongue touching the head of Aya's cock delicately.

Aya shuddered and gasped at the teasing touch of Yohji�s tongue. It felt so good, so utterly right.

After the first taste, Yohji decided he might just enjoy seeing what Aya would do if he opted to do more than tease. He opened his mouth and took the whole head of Aya's cock into his mouth.

Aya arched off the bed, his head thrown back, as the warmth of Yohji's mouth engulfed him. He'd dreamed of this so often but the mental impressions had come nowhere near the reality. "Yesss!" he hissed out.

The reaction was quite a bit more expressive than Yohji expected. Encouraged he took more of Aya's cock into his mouth, giving an experimental sweep of his tongue over the head.

Aya writhed and groaned out his pleasure. Yohji seemed to know exactly what he was doing and that suited Aya perfectly. Now he could just give in to this long awaited bliss.

Yohji sucked lightly on the flesh in his mouth, awed by the passion he was awakening in the normally icy cool virtually emotionless man.

Aya�s eyes were closed his hands gripping the sheets as he gasped out Yohji�s name over and over again.

The blond gripped Aya's hips and held him still, his mouth on Aya's sensitive flesh moved faster. Yohji wanted this, wanted this control over the other man, wanted to take Aya over the brink and watch him lose every fragment of the ice that had walled him off from everyone.

Everyone including Yohji.

Aya tried to pull away. �Yohji� gonna come� let go�. Don�t want to make you swallow.�

Yohji wasn't letting go, his strong hands gripping Aya's hips as his mouth sped up. He wanted Aya to surrender himself this way, to give in to the demands of his body.

Aya cried out Yohji�s name and came, still trying to pull away so the blond didn�t have to swallow. Nobody had ever wanted to swallow before.

But Yohji wasn't letting Aya go. He took what Aya gave him and swallowed it down without the slightest hesitation or sign of disgust.

When he'd taken the last drop into his mouth he crawled up Aya's body and kissed the younger man passionately.

Aya was stunned. He could taste himself on Yohji�s lips and in his mouth and was amazed that the otherwise straight man would do such a thing willingly.

Yohji wrapped his arms around Aya and rolled over onto his back, pulling the younger man on top of him without breaking the kiss.

He thought it might have felt strange to be making love with another man, but with Aya, for some reason, it felt right. Natural.

Without the slightest hesitation he wrapped his long legs around Aya's hips, showing Aya-- his lover-- that he was ready for anything the other man might want from him.

It didn�t take Aya long to be ready and aching again. Yohji�s mouth had been heavenly but now he wanted to be somewhere much hotter and tighter. He opened the lube and dipped his fingers into it pulling out a generous dollop. If this was Yohji�s first time it was bound to be uncomfortable for him but he would do his best to make sure it wasn�t painful.

Yohji reached for Aya. "Make it feel good, Aya. That's all I ask."

Aya smiled at the blond. �I�ll do my very best.� Gently he inserted a finger generously coated in lube into the pucker that was so inviting, watching Yohji�s face for any sign of distress. There was none so he inserted a second finger and started to stretch the hot, tight passage.

Yohji closed his eyes. He wasn't totally unaccustomed to things up his ass, far from it. But it had been a while since he'd had any girlfriends quite that adventurous.

"Want me to turn over?" he asked.

�No, I want to see your face not your back. I need to be sure I�m giving you pleasure rather than pain.� He removed his fingers, coated them again and this time inserted three fingers looking for that spot that would make Yohji feel so good.

"Face to face sounds good to me," Yohji replied. Aya found the right spot and Yohji gasped. "Oh hell yeah."

Aya smiled his rare smile and stroked the little nub of nerve endings again watching Yohji�s face as he did so.

Yohji moaned this time and reached for Aya.

Aya leaned down and kissed him, tongues melding into a dance of desire. He wouldn�t be able to wait much longer. Finally having three or four year�s worth of fantasies come true was making him hot as hell.

Yohji broke the kiss, jade eyes meeting amethyst. "Show me what you can do, Aya. Make love to me."

Aya removed his fingers and generously coated his cock with the lube the coolness of the stuff calming the ache just a little. He pushed Yohji�s legs up and positioned himself at the entrance to his tight passage. He wasn�t sure what games the blond might have played in the past but he was pretty certain that the man had never had a cock up his ass so he entered slowly.

Yohji's eyes registered shock, then surprise as the hard flesh slid into him, pressing against the spot inside that felt so good, at the same time stretching him farther than he was used to.

It felt strange, but good at the same time. And nothing like the hard toys he was used to having up his ass.

Aya stared down at the blond. All the fantasies in the world hadn�t prepared him for this particular reality, that Yohji might have been born for him, that it was like coming home.

Yohji caressed Aya's cheek, slipped his hand behind the red-head's neck and pulled him down for a kiss that burned right to his groin.

Gently, carefully, Aya began to move. Retreating from Yohji�s body only to push in deeper until he was fully seated in the blond, taking up a steady rhythm while he returned Yohji�s kiss with interest.

Having finally got what he�d craved for so long he didn�t want to make any mistakes.

Yohji groaned into the kiss, reaching out, holding onto Aya, pleasure rising to fill his mind.

Gradually Aya increased the pace, loving the sound of Yohji�s groans.

"Aya...." Yohji gasped out his lover's name, held tighter to the younger man, the sensations coming from inside him as Aya fucked him were the most intense thing he'd ever felt.

But he needed more. He reached between them and gripped his cock.

Aya stopped and slapped his hand away replacing it with his own. �Mine,� he snarled before resuming his gentle fucking.

"Yours?" Yohji asked, the word moaned out from the pleasure Aya was giving him.

�Yes, mine.� At least he hoped he could make the blond as much his as he was Yohji�s.

Yohji reached up and took a gentle grip in Aya's hair, pulled him down for another kiss, whispering, "Mine," as their lips touched.

�Yours,� Aya whispered into the kiss before pulling away in order to get the right angle and so he could reach Yohji�s silk-sheathed cock more easily. He stroked it in time to his thrusts.

Yohji shuddered, gasped and held tightly to Aya, the pleasure wrapping around his mind as powerfully as the swordsman's hand was wrapped around his aching flesh.

Rapidly becoming lost in the sensations, Yohji forced himself to look at Aya rather than close his eyes. He wanted to see passion completely erase the coldness from the man's violet eyes.

And Aya gazed into the verdant eyes of his lover watching as they fluttered in desire and then stared into his own as if looking for something. He smiled. Not the usual small expression, but a full blown smile that reached his eyes and softened them to shades of soft orchid and violet-grey instead of the usual hard amethystine sparkle.

Yohji returned the smile, pulled Aya down for a kiss, moaning into Aya's mouth as the pleasure took him higher, carrying him closer to orgasm, his body starting to go tense, his breath coming in gasps.

Aya fought to keep from letting himself go, wanting to make this sublime moment last as long as he could. His rhythm was speeding up as he came close and his hand sped up to match. Ragged, panting breaths escaped him as he neared completion.

"Want to feel you... cum... Aya..." Yohji gasped out.

�Yohji!!� He tensed and then fell from the precipice through the most earth shattering orgasm he�d ever felt. His vision whited out and he collapsed against his lover but he kept hold of Yohji�s cock, wanting to feel it twitch and spurt over his hand.

Feeling Aya's body yield to the pleasure gave Yohji the incentive he wanted, the flush of colour rising to Aya's face as he came was beautiful and Yohji gasped and came, his semen spilling over Aya's hand as he gasped out, "Aya! Aya!"

Hot seed ran over Aya�s hand and he moaned in pleasure as he leaned against Yohji, wanting to stay like this forever.

"Aya..." it was a whisper of pure contentment, "That felt so good, you can do that whenever you want."

Aya didn�t reply but he did tighten his hold on Yohji and smile in satisfaction and pleasure. He would want to do it again and he would want Yohji to do it to him.

Yohji sighed and just lay there in Aya's embrace, content to be where he was.

Inevitably Aya was the first to recover enough to think about Kritiker agents in the area and the fact that they needed to move and soon. �Yohji, we have to leave.�

The blond sighed. "Yeah I know, I was just enjoying lying beside you and not thinking about anything except what we just did."

Aya smiled and his hold tightened a little. �Me too but�� He sighed. �I want to be somewhere where we can do that for hours without having to worry about being found by a vindictive little shit.�

Yohji lifted up enough to kiss Aya, then he stared into his lover's gaze. "Hours of making love with you, now that's incentive enough to get me moving and us out of Japan as fast as we can get ready to leave."

Aya chuckled the sound low and sexy. �For now the carrot will work, we�ll save the stick for later.�

The blond frowned. "Stick?" He shook his head. "I'm not sure I like the sound of that," he winked, "unless by stick you mean that one you stuck in me a little while ago. If so, then I'm all for more stick."

Aya sighed again. �You�re incorrigible Kudoh.� He leaned down and returned the kiss before sliding out of the bed. �Let�s get moving before you get other ideas.�

Yohji didn't waste a second, he reached across the bed and smacked Aya's firm ass. "I have lots of ideas, it's just that right now most of them involve seeing how many times you can manage to fuck me in one day."

Aya shook his head and moved out of range before Yohji could slap his ass again. �You�ll pay for that,� he promised. �Now move it!�

Grinning Yohji started to shake his behind, dancing to a popular club song he'd heard so many times it was imprinted on his mind. His body moving gracefully in a display that was highly erotic.

"Is this moving good enough?" he asked as he danced his way across the room, heading for the shower.

Aya rolled his eyes and growled out his lover�s name before striding across the room to take him in a crushing embrace.

The arms around him were tight enough to hurt, and Yohji gasped, his body moulding to Aya's, cock going semi-hard. "Aya," he whispered his lover's name, excited by the possessive way he was being held.

�You asked for this,� Aya told him as he slapped his ass hard enough to leave a red hand print and sting but not to really hurt. �Now let�s get out of here before I do resort to a stick.� He let Yohji go but not before planting a brief but passionate kiss on his lips.

�I�d suggest showering together to save time but I doubt if it would.�

Yohji touched the red mark on his butt, jade eyes staring at Aya, his expression unreadable. "No, it wouldn't save time, Aya," he agreed then pulled the smaller man into his embrace and set his lips to Aya's in a kiss that would have scorched steel.

Aya groaned into the kiss before pulling away. �Shower. Now.� He was semi-hard but they didn�t have the time for this right now.

Yohji backed away, his breathing ragged, eyes bright with lust. "Fuck. Now," he countered as he turned and offered the other man access to his ass.

Aya lifted a leg and placed his foot on Yohji�s butt pushing hard enough to send the other man forward two or three paces. �You�ll have to wait.�

"Well I had to try," Yohji remarked as he headed for their small bathroom.

Aya shook his head, eyes alight with amusement. Yohji might be a handful in more ways than one but he was the one person who had the ability to cheer him. The one person who was as scarred as he was.

He started packing their few possessions while he waited for Yohji to finish in the shower.

Yohji came out a few minutes later to find what little of importance they had already packed and waiting. He smiled at Aya, wrapped his arms around the man, pulled him close and kissed him.

He grinned when he broke the kiss. "Get a shower already so we can get the hell out of here," he said as he opened up the fridge and got out his last bottle of beer.

Aya took even less time in the shower than Yohji had. Grabbing the shampoo, soap, their razors and other toiletries, he stuffed them all into a wash bag and rejoined his lover. He dropped the wash bag in the duffle and looked around to make sure they�d left nothing behind that could be traced to them. Finally satisfied he smiled. �Let�s go.�

Yohji glanced around, his gaze going to the bed where they'd first made love. He would never forget this place, but he would also never come back to it.

"Yeah, let's go."

It was time to say goodbye to their old life and embrace the future.

A future and a new life they could face together