thoughts

Youji’s body woke up slowly to warmth and an unfamiliar sense of contentment. He tightened his arms around the person he was holding, feeling very pleased with himself and relaxed at the moment. He knew that as his body woke up more he would start to feel his hangover…oh and there it was. Stupid mind, he thought. He rubbed his cheek onto soft hair, the smell of roses, helping with his headache. The person beside him mumbled something in a deep voice and cuddled closer, obviously not in the mood to be woken up quite yet...wait a second, deep voice? He pulled away, trying to see something besides cherry red hair. Cherry red hair and deep voice…Aya? He pulled away a bit more and saw the pale man, completely relaxed in his sleep. Violet eyes opened as the body realised he was loosing his warmth. He blinked sleepily before glaring half-heartedly and pouting slightly. He rubbed his eyes tiredly and looked back at Youji, eyes a bit clearer but not much. Youji thought he looked cute. Cute?! I’m calling a sword wielding deadly assassin cute! I must have drunk more then I thought. Though, Youji had to admit the man didn’t look very dangerous at the moment.

“Ohayou, Aya.” He said cautiously, waiting for an explosion from the ill-tempered man.

“Hn.” That hadn’t been very threatening; maybe he would live. Aya looked at Ken and Omi, Ken still snoring away and Omi mumbling slightly in his sleep. “It seems we fell into your grove in the bed last night.” Aya smirked slightly, eyes sparkled, though with humour instead of anger as per usual. Youji laughed softly, not wanting to wake the others before a realization struck him.

“Hey,” he said indignantly, “Are you saying I’m fat?”

Aya just smiled mysteriously and shrugged before closing his eyes and pulling the blankets closer.

“Uh…Aya?” What was the man doing?

“Hn?”

“What are you doing?”

“Going back to sleep. Omi won’t go to school with that large of a hangover and Ken will drop more things than hold, we are closing the shop for a day.” He yawned. “I don’t think we need to worry about your alarm going off, do we?”

Youji gave Aya an odd look, but the man couldn’t see it, as he hadn’t opened his eyes since he had closed them after that mysterious smile.

“Nah, I’ve hit it too many times.” Youji leaned down a bit, relaxing a bit, enjoying the guilt free sleep.

“Good.” Gods, the man sounded pleased with himself…

Youji awoke to a giggle and an “awww….” He opened an eye to see Omi and Ken looking at Aya and himself, who were still curled up together, Aya sleeping on unaware. He threw a pillow at Omi, who had made the noise, but it ended up hitting Ken instead, who stood there scowling with his headache. The soccer fanatic caught it and threw it back, but because of the hangover, his aim was a little off and he hit Aya instead. Who immediately woke up with a growl and without looking at the man, smacked Youji in the face with it. The resulting pillow fight lasted a good 20 minutes. All of them worn out but feeling a bit better after the distraction, they finally got up, cleaning up Youji’s room (more then it was before). After they were done, Aya picked up his shirt and socks, heading for the door. Omi suddenly, jumped and exclaimed, “Aya, the shop!”
Aya turned back, laughter dancing in his eyes, “I decided to disappoint the fan girls more then I normally do today, I closed the shop.” He slid out of the room, leaving three stunned Weiss, shocked at their leader’s attitude. Youji lit a cigarette, wondering out loud, “What has gotten into him.”

Aya grabbed some fresh clothes and a towel before heading to the bathroom. He knew he had surprised his team mates but it just felt so good to not have nightmares wake him up. He hadn’t decided if it was just the fact that the bed had been so relaxing, letting you sink into it, or his team mates comforting presences, especially Youji’s. Which was an incredibly odd thought to have. Yeah, Youji and him had become friends, closer then he was to the other two but the man wasn’t really a comforting person. That wasn’t true, it was just that Aya didn’t like people invading his personal space and that was Youji’s forte. The man normally made him slightly nervous with all the personal contact but when he had woken up this morning, he felt so safe and cared for. He hadn’t felt that way since his sister had been awake. Dressed and ready to go, Aya pushed the thoughts to the back of his mind, he would think about it later. He walked down stairs, and started to make lunch, as it was already two o’clock in the afternoon. Gods, when was the last time he slept in?

Ken had obviously gotten to the shower next, his hair still damp as he walked into the room. He started slightly when he saw Aya, the radio on, quietly playing a music station, the redhead making an extensive lunch to make up for the fact that none of them had had breakfast. Not that Ken was complaining, Aya made great food, but the man normally didn’t cook, Omi usually did it. Most of the time it would take them, especially Youji begging and Omi’s giant eye trick, to get his to cook something up, and it was hardly ever this elaborate. The only exception was Omi’s birthday, as Youji and Ken would always ruin it. When he offered his help, he was given a shake of the head and a quiet thank-you. What the hell is going on? I have to be dreaming. He sat down heavily, wanting to see the other two’s reaction. Youji was next and did the classic double take, mouth opening and his cigarette falling out of his mouth. He did this funny little dance as he tried to grab it before the smoke fell to the floor. Omi beat him though; he ran down the stairs and slid into the kitchen on his socks, ready to make lunch. In his surprise, he didn’t stop and slid right into the living room where he went flying to the couch because he was still staring back at the kitchen. Even Aya had smiled at that one. The man was full of surprises today.

They had just started to eat, Omi chattering over the radio when Manx walked in.

“Why is the store closed?” she demanded, looking everyone over.

Aya looked up. “I decided to close it for the day.” He shouldered the blame; at least not everything had changed about the man…

“Why? Your cover is a serious job-“

Aya cut her off, shocking her. “If it’s that important, take the Koneko’s average daily earning out of my salary and put it in the shop’s account.” Everyone stared at Aya, Youji frowning. Out of all of them, the swordsman was the most careful with his money. The flower shop didn’t make that much money, but it was certainly a pretty penny out of the man’s account.

He watched as Aya’s and Manx’s gazes held.

“No, there is no need. If you felt it was necessary…”she trailed off, deffering to him after an odd look came over her face. Aya stood.

"There is enough for five, as long as Ken doesn’t want fourth’s that is.” Ken was glanced at the man, too busy eating a shrimp to respond. Manx hesitated, confused by the man’s behaviour. “Alright…”

When Aya turned around to gather a place setting, she gave the others a questioning look, Ken shrugged, Omi smiled, and Youji was to busy looking at Fujimya to notice.

“I’ll do the dishes, Aya-kun, since you made lunch!” Omi stated cheerfully.

Aya shook him head, “They can wait until after Manx leaves, Omi. Then we’ll all do them.” He finished with a look at Youji, who was wincing. “Heh, heh,” Youji said, thinking about the brand new designer outfit he had on, and walking towards the basement. They all headed downstairs, Manx at the back. Aya looked slightly more like he usually was, arms crossed, leaning against the wall by the stairs. He also looked in pain.

Youji frowned at the man again, what the heck was going on? He turned his eyes to the screen as Persia started his speech. Those images had been lovely! _Gag_. A high-ranking businessman had been picking up prostitute for the night and after sleeping with them, he injected them with test drugs from his labs. They would torture themselves and then commit suicide, all while he watched. They all nodded when Manx looked at them. Her eyes stayed on Aya.

“Aya, you’re going to have to pose as bait, you’re the only one with natural red hair and that seems to be one of his preferences.” Something flashed in his man eyes, too quickly to recognize before he nodded. For some reason, Youji wanted to say no, that Aya should stay as far away from this mission as possible, but he pushed that little bit of intuition aside. Aya could take care of himself.

“I will come back tomorrow, Aya, to give you the clothes you need for the assignment.” Manx stated, when a few of the other details had been sorted out.

Aya’s eyes flashed again, though this time with more anger; he glared at Manx, “No need.” He replied before walking up the stairs, signalling the end of the meeting. Youji stood, stretched and with a quick wink at Manx that was more habit than anything else, followed.

Aya had his sleeves rolled up and had already started on this dishes. The sound of a lighter being flicked open confirmed the violet-eyed man’s guess of who had come after him. The man leaned against the counter, far enough away to ensure water did not splash him unless a person sprayed water with intent to get him wet.

“You alright?”

“Hn.”

He heard an aggravated sigh behind him, but ignored it. What does the man have to be aggravated for?

“Is that a yes hn, or a no hn?”

Aya dried off his hands and turned to the man, still holding the dishtowel. “Why would I not be alright?”

Youji fidgeted under that gaze, those eyes were beautiful and they used their beauty to trap you with a look.
“I dunno, maybe you don’t like the idea of what you have do during the upcoming mission?” smooth, Kudou, really smooth

“A mission is a mission, Youji. It will be over soon enough.”

“Say, Aya.” The man turned to look at him sharply, he knew that tone of voice too well, “you said something about having clothes for this mission…” he waited for some sort of acknowledgement. When it came in the form a weary nod, he continued, “Well, they haven’t gotten the Kudou seal of approval and the clothes I see you normally wear won’t exactly work for this.” The man was wearing a black button down t-shirt and a pair of jeans. It didn’t look bad on the redhead, not at all, but he certainly wouldn’t stand out on a street corner. Aya sighed, this time he sounded aggravated. “You’ll see them when I change for the mission, in two days.”

“Aya….” He pleaded but stopped when he got a dishtowel thrown at his head. While Youji couldn’t see, Aya escaped up the stairs. Neither noticed the other redhead in the stairway, scowling. When she continued though, after Aya had left, there was nothing but humour in her voice as she said goodbye to Kudou. As soon as she left the shop she dialled the phone quickly.

“Hello, Erika.” A gravely voice said, the sound obviously changed by computer enhancers.

Her reply was angry and to the point. “The Rainbow is switching back to the Flower,” (1) she stated in English. The man laughed with bitter victory, “I told you, he would. That man was strong. I warned you but your precious little organization was too ambitious to let that amount of power go. Worried Schwarz would be able to do more with telepathy than the normal means, eh? They still have more than a passing interest, even with his power blocked.”

“I won’t let Schwarz gain control, you bastard. You probably made sure this would happen. Fix it!” she all but shouted at him, slamming the door to her car.

The man was suddenly serious, frighteningly angry, “I knew if he changed back you would kill him rather than let someone else take over. I'm not that cruel. The only reason I changed his personality was because you hung their lives over my head!”

“If he doesn’t get this mission done, they’ll be dead! He has a lot more use to us then your family ever did. A liability is all they are.”

“What’s the mission?” He growled.

“Same as last time. two days from now.” She answered, annoyed at having to say so much.

“Gods, you people are horrible. Let’s ignore the fact that you captured him and brain washed him the first time, now you want a repeat performance. Who are you going to blame it on this time?”

“Schwarz.”

“It worked so well the first time. Schuldig is going to pretty fucking pissed.”

“I don’t care.”

“Of course you don’t. You’re a bitch. Never mind the fact that he’s the only reason Fujimya didn’t kill himself after the accident. Or that we’re going to have to deal with an enraged telepath, maybe two if Ran’s ‘training’ falters or doesn’t stick the second time. ”

Manx didn’t bother to respond. He sighed, “You really don’t care, do you?” he sounded defeated.

“Just get it done.” She hung up.

Aya rubbed his temples, scowling at the migraine he was getting. There was a flash of orange and it calmed him a bit before the pain only increased. He went to go sit down on the bed but missed it, and ended up with his head leaning against the side. This would work. Green flashed this time, along with the feeling of someone petting his hair, chasing the pain away.
He slept.

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