Chapter 7
"When did you remember?" They had established a sort of peace between them; Youji had gotten him some tea and made a late night snack - Aya couldn't seem to remember the last time he had eaten, so that was quite welcome - and was once more seated near him.
Youji laughed lightly which caused Aya to glare at him in annoyance. "Remember? I never forgot you!"
"What?" No matter how many times he re-evaluated the words, he couldn't make sense of them. Complete memory loss was complete memory loss. Right? "You forgot everything. How could you have possibly remembered me?"
"I have no idea." He shrugged and reclined back in his chair. "I never really told anyone because it was my own little memory. I just kept seeing a tall man with red-hair who wielded a sword like a master. After a while I recalled your name and eventually your real name, but I couldn't remember anything else so I thought that maybe I had created you in my mind because what person alive could be like that?"
He wasn't sure if he could be offended by that or not. He choose to sip his tea and wait to see in what direction he was headed. It better be a good one, otherwise, injury or no injury, he was kicking him out!
Youji's eyes became reflective for a moment and he smiled fondly at some private thought. "Dream Aya."
Had he been a less refined individual he might have spit out his tea, which most likely would have soaked Youji. That, however, was not something he would do. He swallowed his mouthful of tea and leveled him with a cool glare. "What are you talking about?"
"Well, that's what I was calling you because I thought you were a dream. I thought you were some fantasy that I had created in order to help me - I dunno, in order to help me cope with my problems, I guess."
Carefully he set his cup down so that he didn't do something drastic like drop it or throw in against the wall. Maybe Youji had been more affected by that head injury than they had thought and maybe he had completely lost his mind. The more he considered it, the more likely it seemed. After all, anyone who could believe that they had created an Aya/Ran-like figure to help them cope definitely had something wrong with their brain. Not that that wasn't somehow flattering, but he was certainly not like some guardian angel and he had no delusions of that. Unlike Youji. Or Takeshi. Whatever he was going by these days.
"So I was your Guardian Aya?"
It was several moments before Youji recovered from his hysterical laughing fit. Aya was not amused. "Oh, that's a good one! My Guardian Aya! But, yes, I suppose that's what I thought you were. Then I saw you again and I knew it couldn't be a dream! Then I remembered holding your sword and suddenly it all came back to me and it all made sense."
It did? Youji must have seen the faint wrinkling of Aya's brow because his smile widened in amusement. "You always looked out for all of us, for our well-being and the last thing you did was to save my life, to save me from a fate worse than death. For that reason my subconscious mind could not forget you even though all my other past memories had abandoned me."
A shiver crept through Aya. The warm feeling that burned in him threatened to overwhelm him. That was the nicest thing anyone had said about him in a very, very long time. "Youji." He shook his head, refusing to get too emotional. "What now?"
"After this, you mean?" His sigh was rather defeated. "I don't know. You're right that I do have Asuka now, but she doesn't remember everything that happened between us before this like I do. I - I don't know if I should tell her or not. In the end it might only upset her and it's not like she can do anything about that now."
"Maybe you should let her decide that."
Youji raised an eyebrow at him. "You weren't going to give me that choice, if I recall correctly."
"You were unhappy with your life and you wanted to quit. I don't think there is any danger of Asuka wanting to re-join Shireient now that she somehow broke their control over her."
He nodded marginally at that. "So you think there is a 'danger' of me rejoining Weiss?"
"That is one of the possibilities," Aya returned. If he did return that would be both good and bad. Good because Aya liked Youji - though he steadfastly refused to admit this outloud - and because together they made a great team. Bad, however, because Aya liked Youji a little too much and in the end it would only cause him more heart ache. He had said goodbye to Youji; he didn't want to have to do that again.
~~~~~~~"Ken-kun!"
He stumbled backwards as his friend regressed back to childhood moments and flung himself at him exuberantly. He couldn't resist ruffling his hair. "Hey there, Omi! How have you been doing?" Then he paused. "Or, um, Mamoru?"
The younger man smiled brightly up at him as he stepped back, allowing him to breathe once more. "Omi is fine." Then he blinked. "Which answers both questions, really."
Ken tilted his face up into the light and caught sight of the dark circles under his eyes and the generally tired look he carried. "Looks like you haven't been getting a lot of sleep lately. What's up?"
"Little" Omi developed fangs. "What's up?? You've been MISSING!! And Aya- kun, and Youji and I was so worried!"
"Whoa, whoa! Don't get angry at me for something that was out of my control." His own expression suddenly turned gloomy at the mention of Aya. If he hadn't been stupid enough to want to leave Aya all alone on that mission then none of it ever would have happened. So, it hadn't been completely out of his control, but why tell Omi that?
Omi didn't miss his sadden expression, which made him brighten once more. "But it's all okay now!" He turned and retreated into his office, counted to three, and suddenly Ken was at his side once more. "Oh, you didn't hear?" he asked innocently.
"Hear what? And you know I didn't! Rex said that Aya was missing and that's all I heard!" Hope! There was always hope!
Before Ken's eyes got any wider or before he spontaniously combusted Omi decided to tell him the wonderful news. "Here, look!" He called up the information Nagi had sent him and showed him the files. He smiled as Ken eagerly took it all in.
"Has he confirmed yet that it's him?"
Omi frowned. "Don't you mean 'them'?"
There was a long pause and Ken turned back to the report and skimed through once more. "Oh, yeah. Them." Opps. "Wait a minute! Asuka!? Wasn't that - ?"
"Yep." The weight of the world once more came crashing down on his shoulder and he sighed deeply. "Youji probably won't come back, but there is always the possibilty that he has since regained his memories. If he hasn't then we won't be the ones to destroy his happy life."
"So when is Aya coming back?" Eager as a puppy, tail wagging.
He shrugged. "Honestly? I don't know. He hasn't quite been located yet, but don't worry, he will be. His target was eliminated and I have excellent sources that say it was most likely done by Aya."
The puppy got kicked. "Oh." But they were sure it was him and he would be back soon. Yes, that was definitely good! "Well, then, how about we do something fun, just you and me?" He would have plenty of time with Aya later, he would make certain of that!
"Like what?" Omi's eyes took on a rather suspicious look.
"I dunno. How about like old times? Let's go kill someone!"
Regressing once more, Omi rolled his eyes in exasperation. "Ken!"
"Okay, maybe not. Um, how about practicing some soccer moves?"
Omi's eyes narrowed. "You know I'm not good at soccer."
"Well, how about, um, Playstation games? And pizza?"
"I think that's possible." Omi had the urge to hug his friend once more and suppressed it for a moment before attaching himself to Ken's arm. Sometimes it was okay to be childish, he decided. Especially after all that he had been through lately. It was good to have one of his friends back, at least.