Chapter 9
After Omi had lunged for his cell phone, which he had set on a nearby table, Ken partly listened as he finished the game they had been playing and then turned it off so that he could hear Omi's half of the conversation. He heard the word "they" and assumed he was discussing Aya and Youji with whomever he had sent to retrieve them. That's when the name "Nagi" popped out of the conversation to smack him in the face. NAGI was helping OMI?!! Since when? He had barely been civil the last time he had seen them!
Omi sighed as he put his phone down once more. Thoughts of the former members of Shwartz fled his mind as he saw his friend begin to tremble. "Omi? Hey, what's wrong?" Gods, he hoped nothing had happened to Aya! Oh, and Youji, he supposed.
Omi's thoughts were rather far away and for a moment he allowed himself self-reflection, or perhaps a self-examination.
Takatori Mamoru had been forced to the back of his consciousness and with him went all his cold, unemotional masks, leaving behind the frightened, confused boy, Omi. He might have been concerned if he were with anyone else other than one of his friends that knew him best as Omi because with anyone else he needed to be a Takatori. It hurt to be Omi because he felt pain more strongly, but it hurt equally much to be Mamoru, it was just that he had to pretend it didn't.
Arms wrapped around him and he leaned willingly into his friend as a few tears escaped his eyes. He wasn't sure why he was crying; he should have been overjoyed. He was overjoyed! It had been too uncertain for so long and he had done the one thing that he had never wanted to do: give his friends the freedom, the choice to leave. Saying it was one thing, but what if they did choose to move on and he lost them forever? What then? Would Takatori Mamoru consume him completely and would he, Omi, be lost forever to the cold destiny he had been forced into?
"Ken-kun." His voice was harsh with the few tears he had shed. "What if they don't come back? I want to see them so much, but what if they don't want to come?"
"Of course they'll come back, Omi! They will at least come back to see you because we both know they adore you as much as I do! How could they possibly stay away?" He smiled as he managed to wring a startled laugh from the shorter man. "Then we'll be all together again, if only for a short while."
"I hope you're right."
He smiled absently. "I am, don't worry." He would see Aya again, he knew it, and part of him even wanted to see Youji again, too. "Um, so, Omi, what is Nagi doing looking for Aya and Youji?"
Omi tensed suddenly and pulled away from him slightly. "How did you - ?" He frowned, then shook his head. "I must have said his name. Well, afterwards Nagi didn't really have anywhere to go, you know? Shwartz disbanded and I offered to let him stay here, with me."
"With you?" Ken wondering if this was going in the direction that he thought it was going. Sometimes Omi was entirely too trusting.
"Yes." He hadn't decided if he wanted to tell them or not, but since he had brought it up, he decided to be perfectly honest. After all, he didn't want to keep it a secret from everyone - from the press, yes, from his friends, definitely not! "Nagi and I are lovers."
~~~~~~~When the sounds of aruging and died down he wandered back into the living room area, with his bowl of ramen noodles in his hand, chopsticks in the other. He had discovered instant ramen packages in the cupboards and that had sounded good to him. Well, who was he trying to kid? Food, any food, had sounded good at that point. He should stop getting so involved in following leads that he forgot to eat; it annoyed Omi to no end, but he did the same thing, so he shouldn't complain.
"Are you done?" He asked between a mouthful of noodles. He was eager - though he tried not to show it - to get back to check on Omi despite the fact that they had spoken on the phone not long before.
Abyssinian looked extremely ticked off, but he was leaning heavily against Balinese in spite of that. The other looked merely annoyed, with a determined edge. Ah, so they were both going, then. It was obvious to him that Abyssinian did want him to go, yet for his own reasons had been trying to push him away to no avail.
"Shall we go, then?" Two more mouthfuls and all the ramen was gone, the bowl thrown carelessly into the sink.
Balinese nodded in agreement and dragged himself to his feet, keeping one hand on Abyssinian in case he should start to topple over again. The red- head began to struggle to stand - which seemed like a hopeless battle - but then Balinese was leaning over him, picking him up as if he were a small child. Abyssinian snarled in anger and started to fight him, but a sharp pain in his side made him curl in on himself instead.
"The car's not far," he informed Balinese as he opened the front door for them to pass through. He glance backwards and all the lights were turned off and the door locked up tight. With a thought he opened the back door of the black car with tinted windows; it was one of Omi's favorites, but he had insisted he take it. Omi had tried to give it to him, once, and he had refused, knowing he had nothing of any real value to give to him in return, yet he realized he used the car a lot more than he ever did so it was practically his anyway.
Ignoring his use of telekinestics, Balinese settled Abyssinian into the back seat, before suddenly stopping to glance back at him. Part of him had expected that there would be a driver to go along with the car, but the car was empty. "You're old enough to drive?" (1)
Nagi choose not to answer that question and started for the driver's seat.
"Maybe you should let me drive."
He stopped and stared at him cooly. No one else would drive Omi's car, but him. He didn't say that, though. Instead, logically, he asked, "Would you rather I look after Abyssinian?"
Balinese got in the back and Nagi calmly took the wheel of the car.
~~~~~"Nagi??" They were talking about the same fridgid, ice-cold eyed demon, weren't they? Admittedly he had saved Aya, of which he was extremely grateful, but sweet little Omi and the human icesicle? Lovers? That was unexpected, to say the least.
A soft, gentle smile played across Omi's lips as he sank down into the welcoming arms of a plush chair. "Hai, Ken-kun. Nagi. And I do love him." He treasured their quiet moments together in which neither of them needed words and they could simply curl up like two cats seeking each other's warmth. Nagi was a rare individual and he loved him all the more for that.
"Love? Omi, does he even know how to love?" If he could help it, he never wanted to see Omi hurt for any reason and if he had fallen for that boy with his dark soul and deadened eyes then wouldn't the inevitable ending be heart break?
"Of coure he does." There was adoration in his brilliant eyes that Ken had to admire and hate at the same time because he himself could not relate to it. He still doubted Omi's optimism for his lover's ability to feel any emotion, let alone love, but he would not be the one to burst his bubble. Nagi would probably do that well enough without him.
~~~~~~~~~~(1)I read somewhere that the legal age to drive in Japan is 18. It was probably on a Samurai Troopers site because they were saying how people had been outraged that Seiji had been driving a car when he was 14 or 15 (can't remember their exact ages). Anyway, I'm not exactly sure how long after the series Gluhen is supposed to be so I'm not really sure how old Nagi is! =^^=