Chapter 5
Another aimless day which he filled with wandering thoughts he could completely understand or pin down. He still wasn't entirely certain how he had ended up in his current predicament and even if he did it wouldn't make much of a difference because he couldn't do anything to alter it. It was beginning to seem as if he would be stuck in here forever. He would just have to make the best of a horrible situation.
Maybe he should try suicide?
No. He wanted to see Aya again, had to see Aya again. He couldn't die yet, no matter what. He still had people out there he cared for and who cared about him. Omi, Omi must be frantic with worry by now. That was a depressing thought because he hated to cause the younger man anymore pain than he already had to bear.
"Prisoner 1257!"
He blinked and looked up. It couldn't possibly be time to -
Standing beside the prison guard was a tall and beautiful woman (1). His heart leapt to see her. Rex.
He was on his feet in an instant; Rex smiled at him faintly, nodding in greeting.
"You're being released," the guard was saying, but he barely heard the words. He did note the rather unfriendly look the guard tossed in his direction, but that was easy to ignore with Rex standing there, taking his arm, and leading him off as if he were a child. Not that he could have cared less about that. Obviously the apperance of Rex meant that he was being released and that meant things were looking up for a change!
He was allowed to change out of the prison uniform and into the clothes he had had on when they had thrown him into the penitentiary. They even gave him back his gloves. They obviously hadn't looked very closely at them, of which he was glad. It was a bitch to custom-make gloves with sharp metal claws. (2)
Then he was climbing into Rex's car. She glanced at him out of the corner of her eye as she sped off. "It took us a while to track you down. I still don't know how they - or even who - found you, but I am glad you are okay."
"Thanks, Rex." Now he could see Aya again. He couldn't stop the silly grin that spread across his face. "I bet Aya reported in ages ago. I almost didn't expect anyone to look for me." Aya had probably told them that he had lost him in the action and that he figured he was dead. That was supposed to have been the cover story so that they wouldn't search for him.
Rex choose not to mention the fact that they almost hadn't looked for him, nor that she had no idea that they had continued the search. There were more important matters to address. "Aya is missing." She sent him a look that clearly said that she had hoped he had had some information on what might have happened to Abyssinian, but obviously he did not.
He reacted badly to that. "WHAT??!"
"The target was not killed and Aya did not report in. I assume there is someone looking into the matter, but at the moment he is missing and presumed dead."
"No!" Aya. No, not Aya. Aya couldn't die! He was stability itself, he was strong and stable and constant! It wasn't possible that Aya could die and leave him all alone before he could tell him - before he could tell him -
Not before he had the chance to say - to say -
That he loved him.
No, he wouldn't believe it! He couldn't believe that he had missed that chance and would never be able to tell him how he felt! Aya simply couldn't be dead. It was impossible.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~Aya knew he wasn't dead this time. He only WISHED he was. He definitely didn't feel very great at the moment, especially when he remembered what had happened. The fact that Youji was staring down at him intently, waiting for him to stir, wasn't helping that much, either.
"Aya?"
He closed his eyes again, trying to block out his voice. He had tried so hard to forget the sound of his voice and here he was again, reminding him of all the times they had spent together. "How?" They were at the safe house, but Youji should not have known where it was at all. Youji shouldn't be here, now. He wasn't an assassin any longer. He had broken away from that life.
"I followed you."
From the hospital. Damn, he was slipping; he hadn't even noticed that he was being following. Perhaps he had been too concerned about taking the next step and not keeling over. "The wire?"
Youji smiled ironically. "I never took off my watch even though I didn't understand why I didn't feel safe without it. That was probably a very good thing for you."
"I thought I told you to forget about me."
"And since when have I listened to you?"
He opened his eyes again and glared coldly at Youji even though he had to admit that that was true. Youji had a tendency not to listen to him. "You have Asuka now. Weiss has gotten on well enough without you so there is no reason for you to be here."
"Yes, I can see you've been doing perfectly well." Sarcasm. That only annoyed Aya more. "Where is Ken at, anyway? Shouldn't he be here helping you out?"
Aya forced himself to sit up despite the protest of his wound and Youji's verbal protests. "Lost track of Ken."
"He's gone?"
He shrugged. "I don't know." Which was the truth; he didn't know exactly where Ken was. He had told Ken specifically not to tell him where he was going so that he wouldn't know. "I have to report back to Rex," he continued, changing the subject. "You should get going and so should I. It's been too long and I'm sure they are concerned about my whereabouts." He had been delaying to give Ken time to get free and clear; Omi was most likely worried about both of them by now.
"I'm going with you."
Aya's eyes narrowed. "No, you are not. You were unhappy before and it will only be the same this time around. We don't need you."
"Maybe Weiss doesn't need another aging assassin, but at the moment you need me and I am not letting you out of my sight until I think you are fine."
That, of course, was not intended in the way Aya would have liked it to have been intended. Youji cared for him as a friend and nothing more. It might be nice to have someone take care of him for once. Then again - "No."
A stubborn look entered Youji's eyes that equally matched Aya's cold gaze. "Yes." Then he smiled. "You're to weak to do anything to stop me, anyway."
Aya's glare darkened considerably. Damn. He had a point there.
~~~~~~~~~~(1)I'm going to be mean for a moment because I don't think Rex is beautiful at all. Manx was, but Rex isn't. Anyway, Ken has been locked up for quite some time so we can assume that he isn't particularly rational at the moment, which is why he describes her as "beautiful".
(2)Can't say I speak from experience here, but I imagine it would be a pain custom-make gloves with five really cool sharp claws in them. Really neat, too. Maybe I should try making some. ^_^V