Legend:

//:.....:// = Telepathic communication

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Arc 1/?

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//:Out of all of us, you're hardly the one to be preaching about normalcy.:// Nagi heard Schuldrich's voice inside of his head.

Nagi glared at the older Schwartz member, before slamming the door in his face, and leaving the small house the Crawford had declared that they were to reside at until further notice.

He mentally snorted. Small was an understatement. It was a three bedroom bungalow on the far end of town. Farfarello had the basement, somewhat any ways, Crawford, Schuldrich and himself all had their own rooms.

Nagi shivered slightly against the late Autumn chill, making him wish that he'd remembered to grab a jacket or something before running out of the house in search of some peace and quiet.

The small telekinetic found himself by the ocean side, where the frothy blue-grey water crashed against the breakwater almost forcefully.

When had life gotten so complicated? Weiß had been stirring up trouble for them, and always messing up any of the elaborate plans that had been ever so carefully laid out.

Nagi ran a hand absently through his chocolate-colored hair, brushing the errant bangs out of his eyes.

He prayed that this 'war' would be over with soon, so that everyone could have a chance for a somewhat normal life.

//:Out of all of us, you're hardly the one to be preaching about normalcy.:// Nagi remembered Schuldrich's words as he had departed the house earlier.

Was his dream of peace so unrealistic?

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When had life gotten so complicated? Omi thought, almost before he realized it.

Well, at the moment everything was somewhat peaceful. Life was a thin veneer of normalcy within the Koneko. The hoards of squealing schoolgirls had arrived an hour ago, and it had been nearly chaotic since then.

Both Omi and Aya had been the ones to open up the shop that Sunday morning, the only day that Omi didn't have school. At the moment, it was quarter after three, and the Koneko would be closing in roughly an hour and a half, unless Aya decided to close up the shop early.

Ken was in the back room, finishing up some flower arrangements that had to be made for a delivery before closing time. Omi would probably be the one sent to deliver the arrangement.

It could have been a lot worse, the small boy had to admit. There were no major holiday's that were close, at least not for another three weeks or so, so that in and of itself was a good thing.

Omi looked up in surprise from the floor which he'd been sweeping up some of the grassy parts of some of the arrangements that were near the floor, that had fallen off over the course of the day. His cerulean eyes looked up to meet Ken's warm chocolate-colored eyes.

"Ken-kun! You startled me!" Omi scolded lightly to the older Weiß member.

Ken frowned. "I seriously don't know how you could stay out in outer space for so long with all this noise." Ken stated, gesturing with his head to the flock of girls that were currently swarming around Aya, the latter of whom looked irritated.

Omi blushed faintly in embarrassment. "Gomen, Ken-kun. Was there something that you wanted?" Omi asked, looking back up to the other teen.

Ken smiled. "Yeah. I'll stay here with Aya and help him close up shop, can you go make that delivery now?"

Omi smiled back at Ken. "Hai! Where is it?"

Ken nodded and led him to the back room, where the large, oversized refrigerator was, used to keep all of the arrangements that they made fresh. Ken pulled out a traveling box and laid it out on the table that was just outside the refrigerator. He stepped into the refrigerator and pulled out the arrangement and closed the fridge door. Without a word, the taller teen placed the arrangement into the box. The arrangement was made up of four different types of roses; light pink, white and two different shades of reds, and were cradled by baby's breath and long green ferns. Closing the box securely, Ken handed Omi the box with a smile.

"The address is 484 Second West street on the northside of town. The customer said she'd be there all day, and that she'd pay you upon receipt of the arrangement." Ken instructed.

Omi nodded. "Alright. I'll see you guys later." The small blond said with a smile as he took the box from Ken's awaiting hands.

Omi turned and left the store. He carefully secured the box on the front of his bike and then sped off to make the delivery.

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Today was decidedly a bad day. Sure, it started off alright, but as soon as the clouds came, and the rain started to pour, did Kudou Yohji become irritated.

He had had the perfect date set up for that afternoon. A beautiful woman, a nice picnic out in the park... but, then the rain had to come and ruin it all. The woman had canceled, thinking that their date should be 'postponed until the weather was better', were her words.

Yohji inhaled the cigarette he had been smoking, only to realize that over the course of his reverie, it had burnt away to almost nothing. With an irritated noise, he flicked the butt of the cigarette out of the window, ignoring the odd splatter of the light raindrops that fell from the evestrough.

Yohji pushed off the window sill, closing the window before he left the room. He opened his bedroom door and strolled down the hallway down to the kitchen.

He noted that the house was unusually quiet, normally there was 'some' sort of noise. Whether it be Omi on his computer, or Aya and or Ken watching television in the living room. There was almost always 'some' noise.

Yohji noted with an amused noise as he spotted a note clipped to the front of the fridge door.

"Gone with Aya to get groceries, be back in two hours. Omi is out on a delivery, should be back any time. Ken"

Ken had marked on the note that it had been 4:00 when he and Aya had left, meaning Omi had left a little before the two of them. Yohji looked to the digital display on the microwave and saw that it was a little after six. Aya and Ken should be home any time.

The tall blond frowned. If Omi had left around four, like Ken had suggested, shouldn't he be home by now?

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There was only one thought in Tsukiyono Omi's mind right now... Kill Ken.

Well, maybe it wouldn't be that extreme. But shortly after Omi had left the Koneko, the storm clouds had rolled in and begun spilling their contents over Tokyo.

He had barely gotten the delivery made and he had started back for the Koneko when he was immediately soaked to the bone with the cold Autumn rain.

The tires of his bike slipped and swerved over the wet asphalt, as the rubber sought to grip to the ground.

He was near the breakwater now, a couple of more blocks and he'd finally be back home where he could take a hot shower to drown out this chill that felt as though it had seeped deep into his bones, alright, maybe drowned was a bad choice of words, but it did have the right effect.

The sound of the tide echoing loudly as it crashed against the breakwater was all that he could hear other then the loud pounding of the rain as it hit the cement.

Omi glanced to the guard railing as he noticed a boy standing in the rain all alone, seemingly unmindful of the rain.

Omi's head whipped around in surprise as he felt the front tire of his bike slip on the wet asphalt and go skittering, causing him to go flying off of the bike and slam painfully onto the ground with a thud. Omi cried out as he felt a painful pop in his shoulder as landed into a puddle. His bike lay a short distance away from him, it's tires still spinning from the momentum.

Omi looked up with startled eyes as he saw the flash of headlights speed towards him and a car horn, before he felt warm arms quickly encircle his shivering form and pull him out of the way and off of the road.

He looked up with confused eyes to meet concerned cobalt blue eyes, and then Omi lost consciousness, in the arms of his mysteriously familiar savior.