Three Kitties and a Tomcat

Title: Three Kittens and a Tomcat
Author: Opus
Warnings: Bad language...Shounen-ai…Mild spoilers if you haven’t read Book 10 of PSOH.
Disclaimer: Matsuri Akino's and whoever Weiss belongs to, not me, no money, please don't sue.
Summary: Aya has a headache, Leon gets a surprise…and these two things are not exactly related.
Author notes: Just a reminder- /.../ indicates Chinese, //...// is telepathy, normal quotes is japanese and single quotes is English. D’s reincarnated father is referred to as ‘D’, Leon’s D being out of the picture. And Sofu D is Leon’s D’s grandfather, of course. I hope that made sense. O.o;

It was several hours before Yohji felt recovered enough to face Leon. He went into his teammate’s room and found the blond sitting with his arm hanging out the window, languidly smoking a cigarette. The feline menace lay curled up at his feet.

“I don’t know,” Leon said as his friend approached.

“What?” Yohji asked, startled. The American had been staring off into space as he approached, not seeming to acknowledge his presence.

“You want answers. You want to know what I am, what happened to make me what I am. I’m telling you I don’t know.”

“You really have no idea?” For a moment Leon once again saw D step out in front of him, to have his body torn apart by the blast. He shuddered. Then there was what he found at the pet shop…

“Something happened at the lab. I know I’m not completely human anymore. It has something to do with D, but I don’t know what.”

“Your Chinese friend? Or his father? It was his father who was a geneticist, ne?” By now the darker blond had lit a cigarette of his own and had joined Leon at the window.

D’s blood splashed over him seconds before the explosion took him as well… “He told me toward the end he was a kami, a (Leon then used a Chinese word Yohji didn’t know)…not that I knew what that meant at the time. I still don’t know what that was supposed to mean…not really. I only know for sure he wasn’t human. And I think he somehow passed on some of what he was to me.” Leon sighed and took another drag off his cigarette. “I don’t know why, but I’m pretty sure it was an accident.”

Yohji didn’t know what to say to that.

Leon went on. “I thought I had already figured out all the weird shit I’ve got in me. Fuck, I’m surprised you’re still willing to sit next to me considering I’m giving off some kind of potent aphrodisiac. Oh, and I’m sorry about that, by the way.”

“If I thought you’d been doing it on purpose, I’d be pissed, but you should have seen the look on your face.”

“Yeah, that’s what I get for teasing you so much. So are we still friends?”

“I’m here, aren’t I?”

Leon had to smile at that, but it was a bitter smile.

Aya meanwhile had retreated into his own rooms for a long shower of his own and a nap. His head was still a little fuzzy when he woke up, but clear enough to realize what a bad day he was having.

He needed Omi. His team had always had to deal with the friction caused by the disparate personalities of its members, but Omi with his sweet personality always managed to smooth things over. How could you not listen to him?

Yohji tried to take over as peacekeeper after he left, but was too often the cause of contention himself. Speaking of which, Aya wondered how this little fiasco would affect the friendship between the two blondes. The pale redhead stretched his slender arms for a minute before he got up and headed down to the kitchen. He made himself a cup of coffee and went back through the American’s file. Adding Leon to the team wasn’t a good idea, considering what he was, and the fact he obviously was not a team player. The reprimands in his old police file gave plenty indication of that. Yet he understood Omi’s position- there was no choice. So far there were only five people in Kritiker who had fought Schwartz and lived to tell the tale, and one of them was stuck fulfilling his duties as Persia.

So he had to somehow deal with what he had. Then it hit him- Omi had always been off using his own specialized talents while the rest of them were in the fray. The youngest member of Weiss had fought from a distance, much like a sniper. Unlike Omi, Leon had the physical strength and skill to fight face-to-face like the rest of them, and because of that, he had overlooked the fact that Leon was primarily a long range assassin and had a history of working without backup. Actually, Leon had a well established habit of ditching backup, so it should not have been a surprise that he would do it to Ken. Aya berated himself for not remembering that. What was wrong with him? Had Leon really muddled his mind that much?

It was obvious to him now that Omi had been thinking in terms of finding someone to take his place as the long range specialist. For whatever reason, it had been dangerously careless for him not to realize that. Obviously the next time they were given an assignment he would have to send Leon off to do his own thing while the others played their normal parts. Which is what he should have done in the first place, of course.

Lacking the diplomacy and tact to calm Ken down, keeping him as far from Leon as possible seemed like a good idea in any case.

Yohji’s voice interrupted his thoughts. “Hey, Aya, we’re going out. Want to come?” The usual invitation. The one he always ignored.

The redhead turned to see the playboy about to head out the door with Leon. He paused to consider. “Yes,” he said after a short moment, “Why not?” Yohji did a double take, and Aya smiled slightly. Things could be worse. At least the two seemed to be as close as ever, and it was about time he found out what was so enjoyable about going out and partying all night.

He considered himself suitably dressed, wearing a soft lavender collared shirt (his teammates having locked his orange sweater away somewhere he had yet to discover) and black slacks. If Leon could get into clubs wearing T-shirts and jeans, he should have no problem, and he ignored Yohji’s not-so-subtle hints that maybe he should go change.

Leon stepped in on his behalf. “He doesn’t have clubbing clothes, Yo-tan. Besides, he looks fine. More than fine. Shit, he’d look great even if he were wearing sackcloth. Let’s go already.”

Yohji gave Aya one last baleful look before they headed out the door.


The next morning...

Leon let Aya spend their shift sitting in the back with an ice pack to nurse his hangover. He hadn't expected the redhead to loosen up so much, especially considering how tense things had been the day before. Go figure.

Yohji walked in the door about ten minutes before his shift was supposed to start. "Have fun?" Leon teased. The playboy just winked and grinned in response before heading upstairs to wash up.

As soon as his shift was over Leon went upstairs and pulled the bundle and the contract out of the closet. If he waited any longer, the kami would come looking for it, so he may as well get the confrontation done and over with. He headed for his car, and then remembered that he'd have trouble finding parking, and opted for walking instead. He may not have had a problem with parking illegally back when he was a detective, but these days he tried not to draw attention to himself. As if a 6 foot plus blond in Chinatown didn't turn heads, but his talent made him almost completely unnoticeable when he wanted to be. It was a fairly long walk, but he eventually found the place he was looking for- Count D's pet shop- identical in every aspect to the one he had known in LA. He braced himself for a moment, then walked in the door.

"Hello, how may I help-" A sultry Chinese voice greeted him then froze. Leon was transfixed himself. It looked like his D, with the same short hair only slicked back, but both eyes were purple...oh shit. The regenerated kami himself blinked several times, trying to figure out where he had seen this handsome American before when an image of an angry and determined Leon pointing a gun at him flashed before his eyes. The blonde had been reliving that moment himself when the kami clutched at his head and collapsed. He rushed over and carried the smaller man over to the couch. *This can't be him...I killed him...must be another relative...* He thought frantically, even as he remembered that by all rights he should be dead as well.

D's eyes fluttered open. 'Who...what are you?' he asked. All around them the animals that had not fled the room the instant Leon set foot in the shop whimpered and cowered.

‘Jason Barrett.’ Leon replied automatically, using his usual alias, and mentally crossing his fingers that the kami had no idea who he was. 'Um, here. I think this belongs to you.' He handed over the statue and the contract.

'How did you get this?!' Disoriented and bewildered, D tried to make sense of this strange human who looked so much like his Chris.

'Uh, don't worry about it. Oh, and these are for you.' He hastily handed the kami a box of See's candies, and stood up to go.

'Wait, please. I will make some tea,' D said, grabbing him by the arm. He could sense something strange from this man...something not right. Out of the corner of his eye Leon saw Q-chan fly into the room. 'Look, I don't mean to be rude, but I really, really have to go.' And with that he extricated himself and fled the shop. Q-chan immediately turned into Sofu D and followed the human out the door. D could only sit on the couch in shocked confusion, holding the little statue in his hands.

-

Chris normally couldn't read D's thoughts. It was like there was some barrier keeping him out of his lover's mind. In fact, it had been years before he could even detect treseresence of D's mind. Q-chan was the same way for some reason. So it startled him to see D's memory of some guy who looked a lot like him about to pull the trigger of a gun. Curious, he reached out with his mind to discover that he couldn't read the mind of the human downstairs, either. All he could get from the animals was overwhelming fear. He looked out of his window to see the man from D's memory leaving, with Q-chan(???)/a kami following him. He knew D would be upset with him, but he was both curious and concerned, so he climbed out the window and dropped to the alleyway next to the pet shop. He could feel the illusion spell was still intact, so everyone who saw him would only see a dog, not a tall blond in Chinese clothing.

-

‘Leon Orcot.’

Leon froze at the sound of his real name, spoken by *that* voice. He turned to the golden eyed kami, who he recognized as his D's grandfather, the last person in the world he ever wanted to see again.

The elder D pointed a long slender finger toward a tea house nearby. 'Come' he said. It was not a request. Leon cursed under his breath and followed.

'I'm not looking for trouble,’ Leon started as they sat down in a private corner of the shop, 'I just came to return the pet, that's all.'

'Where is my grandson?' Sofu D asked flatly.'Huh'Huh? I...I'm not sure. I think he's gone.'

'Gone?'

'It's just a weird feeling I have...I'm not sure, but I have a strong feeling he's gone. I have ever since I woke up in the pet shop after the explosion...I'm not sure what happened...and I really don't want to talk about it...'

Sofu D sighed irritably. /Foolish child,/ he muttered in Mandarin. Leon gave him a questioning glare. 'My grandson's judgment was always impaired in regard to you, my dear human. At first I didn't understand it, but then my son, thanks to his fascination with human science, discovered the abnormalities in your blood. Abnormalities that make your blood very compatible with that of me and mine.'

Leon's eyes went wide. 'So what are you saying...'

'That your blood must have mingled with my grandson's when the explosion destroyed your bodies. I know this because I can sense the kami in you as well as the human. And he let you have the new body that your joined blood created. Though I suppose I wouldn't want to live in a body tainted with human blood either. Especially not yours.'

Leon hand clenched so hard around his teacup he had to force himself to relax to keep from breaking it. Nevertheless he gritted his teeth and kept his temper in check. 'So I'm genetically compatible with your kind, and now I'm some kind of fucking half-breed because of it.'

'You wish to tell me you did not suspect it?'

'I didn't want to accept it.'

Sofu D smiled slightly. 'Typical.'

'Don't rub it in. So is this kind of abnormality rare, or are there others like me?' He wasn't too keen about discussing his...condition, but curiosity was getting the better of him.

'Only Agent Howell, and your brother Chris. If my son knew of others, he did not tell me.'

Now that was a shock. 'So you actually know I had a brother. How is it that you know, when everyone else seems to have forgotten him?'

'For the same reason you have not forgotten, I would ima.' .' Sofu D started to rise. 'You have answered my question, and I have answered yours.'

'Not completely, but wait...I have another question,' the answer to which he needed and dreaded the most, 'I saw my own dead body. Am I still Leon, or just a copy who thinks he is?'

'If you cut a blade of grass and it grows back, is it not the same?'

'Yeah, but what happens when you take a cutting and graft it on to something else?'

Sofu D was amused. 'I don't know. This has never enedened before. You would know better than anyone.'

Well, that was disappointing. Leon took a deep breath. 'Something else bothers you?' the elder kami asked.

'I'm...I think I'm losing my humanity. I don't always think like a human anymore and it scares me..'

'Hm. Interesting. ' Sofu D now looked thoughtful. 'I will have to consider this. But for now, I bid you good day.' This time he did get up and leave. The former detective's presence made him uneasy. Like talking to a ghost in a borrowed body...but the hybrid body should belong to Leon as much as his old one did. It would indeed take some time to consider the implications.

Leon watched him go. While the eld was was less than helpful, at least things didn't go anywhere near as bad as he feared. He lifted his cup of tea, took a sip, and grimaced. It had gotten cold.

-

Chris was surprised to hear the strange kami that was also Q-chan call the man by the same last name as his own. Who was he? He scanned the minds around him. Luckily some of them knew the man, but by the name Jason Barrett. He was also rewarded with images of a flowershop. Using his talent he wound his way through the streets. There was no point in staying to eavesdrop- he couldn't read their minds, and if he got close enough to hear them, the kami would detect him.

The closer he got, the more people there were who knew the hot-tempered blonde who worked at the flowershop. Then every so often the word 'ghost' would pop up, and those ones knew him as ‘Detective‘. Strange. Then, a couple buildings down from the flower shop the illusion covering him dropped. He tried to recall it, and failed. What in the...?

Great. D would be furious if anyone saw him. He ducked into an alley and climbed a fire escape to the roof of the closest building. The buildings were close enough together he had no problem jumping from one to the other. Once he was on the roof of the flowershop, he extended his senses. There was something...it felt kami. Focusing on that, he opened the door leading inside and cautiously went downstairs. As he reached the bottom of the landing there was a flash of movement and he felt cold steel pressed to his throat. He cursed himself for putting all his attention in one place. Not that he had expected Japanese florists to be violent...but then he looked into the redhead's mind and saw the truth. //You're no florist!!// he mentally blurted out in surprise.

Aya's eyes narrowed. A telepath. What was he doing here? And why did he look so much like Leon?

Chris' thoughts were focused on how to get away from the assassin. He could sense curiosity and suspicion warring in Aya's mind, and didn't really want to wait to see which would win out. Still…he didn't like giving people migraines. It seemed the best thing to do was answer the unspoken question. //I'm looking for Leon Orcot//

"Why?" Aya asked out loud. Behind him, You Mangy Bastard casually sauntered out into the hallway.

//Because my name is Chris Orcot.// Not the whole truth, but hopefully it would suffice.

The demon cat suddenly sprang up and savagely attacked Aya's sword arm. Out of immediate danger, Chris ran back out to the roof and made his escape.

Aya managed to pry the animal off of him and ran after the young man, but by the time he made it to the roof, the blond was long gone.

He came back down clutching his wounded arm and glared at Leon's cat. "What did you do that for?"

Evil kitty eyes met his. "Mrrr...That wasssn't an enemy. Not good to hurrt that one, mrowr."

Aya's eyes narrowed again. He did not just hear the cat speak. "Then why was he sneaking in from the roof instead of coming in the front door?" He could've sworn he saw the vile creature shrug.

He reached down and grabbed You Mangy Bastard by the scruff of the neck- a daring move by any count. "Don't give me that. Who is Chris Orcot?" And why was he talking to the cat?!! Was he losing his mind?

Then Leon and Yohji came up the stairs. Aya turned to glare at them, especially the American. "Your cat is a menace," he growled.

"Who were you trying to slice up?" Yohji asked, noting Aya's sword lying in the hallway.

"A telepath by the name of Chris Orcot. He looks like you, Lee. Do you know him?"

Leon's eyes widened, and he tried to hide his shock. The brat was alive! "Sounds like my little brother. Where is he?"

"I don't know. He ran off when this…hell creature attacked me."

Leon ran a hand through his hair. Great. Then he noticed Yohji was staring at him. "What?"

"You don't have a little brother."

"Yeah. Funny, isn't it." He grabbed Aya and dragged him toward the bathroom.

Yohji was really getting sick and tired of Leon's evasiveness. "All right, so you have a brother. Why isn't there any record of him?" He demanded as he followed his teammates.

"Don't know," Leon replied as he helped the redhead wash his wounds. Aya and Yohji both gave him a look. "Really, I don't. I don't know when he disappeared from the books, or why. That's what I was trying to figure out when you guys got sent out here." He pulled out his pocketknife and cut his hand. Both of his teammates stared at him as he smeared his own blood over Aya's wounds and watched them close up. They weren't completely healed, but the bleeding was stopped.

"Nice trick." Yohji remarked. "Though ve tve to wonder, why would your brother show up now? Here, of all places?"

"He may live somewhere in Chinatown. He was wearing Chinese clothing," Aya offered.

*He must've seen me when I visited the pet shop. But why didn't he just come up and talk to me there?* Leon wondered. He was both excited and apprehensive about seeing his brother again. It was hard enough to face Chris when he only killed criminals occasionally in the line of duty. Now it was his fucking job to off the bastards. How was he going to tell the kid that? "He didn't speak out loud to you?"

Aya shook his head.

"Shit. I hope that doesn't mean he's lost his voice again."

"Again?" Yohji asked.

"Yeah, when he was about 6, a cousin told him it was his fault that our mother died. He was traumatized and stopped talking. But he found another way to communicate. Then, when he started talking out loud again, the mind talking stopped. When I left, there was no sign that he still had the ability."

"He definitely has it now," Aya said.

And that had something to do with the D family and the pet shop, Leon was sure of it. The question was, what? He could feel the old anger rising up in him. The elder D said he and Chris were compatible with kamis. So maybe that had something to do with why they wanted him...but for what exactly? Chris apparently had the freedom to come see him, so maybe it wasn't as bad as he feared, but still...if either of those two had harmed so much as a hair on his baby brother, there would be a reckoning.

Leon rubbed at his temples. "I'm going to my room. If he comes back, please don't kill him, even if he tries to come in through the window or something. I'm sure he has a good reason for it."

Aya looked at him sternly. "It's been a long time, Leon. You don't know who he may be working for."

"I think I know," Leon said. "I'll ask him when he comes back."

"If he comes back," Yohji said.

"I'm pretty sure he will." And with that he disappeared.

The playboy looked out into the hallway. "Saa, I really hate it when he does that..."

TBC

Omake:

*flashback* A shirtless Aya is rummaging through everything in his room while Yohji stands by trying to look innocent.

Switch over to Omi unpacking in his new place, looking very confused as he pulls a hideous orange sweater from one of his bags.

Omi: WTF?!!!

^-^