The Scars Remind Us

Thanks to everyone who left feedback! This next chapter is mostly setting up some new storylines, so bear with me. Not so angsty, but a lot of unusual stuff is afoot. Don\'t worry, fire_lilly, some heavy fluff is on the way, but not too much this chapter. Kodaijin Hiei, thanks for the support, you make me feel good on the inside.

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He shot up from bed, a cold sweat running the length of his body.

He\'d had the dream again. The one with the bleeding mannequin. That haunting nightmare that, for some reason, brought his mind to peace.

He still hadn\'t told his friends about that dream.

He looked down at his hands, almost in disgust. Such imperfect hands that could wring the very life out of someone without a second thought... and they were hurting again. They kept doing that, hurting for no reason at all, as though nails had been pushed right through the centers. But they weren\'t bleeding, not this time at least.

The mannequin had such beautiful hands.

He frowned hard. That bleeding mannequin. His thoughts swam in a constant haze that he could barely ever distinguish, but this mannequin... In his head, it was clear as day. Beautiful, statuesque, and yet, bleeding. He always knew dollies could bleed.

If he could be perfect like that doll...

~~~~~~

Yohji growled and put a few fingers to his forehead.

What a day... no, what a week. He\'d hardly slept a wink in all this time, the media hounding him about the whole jailbreak situation, even after he\'d quit his supposed job as a warden. Omi should\'ve thought this part through. Sure, everything worked out all right, but the stress was going to make him go gray. Omi was a smart kid, he could\'ve thought of something-anything better than this!

He parked the car in the driveway, pulling on the brakes a little too hard and turning the key a little quickly. They had to move, or something had to seriously change. He couldn\'t keep living like this, and with all this media attention, Ken was sure to get caught at one point or another. It really didn\'t matter how good and how thorough Omi\'s plan was, there\'s no such thing as a flawless getaway.

And his head still hurt.

And the phone was ringing.

He sighed heavily and pushed himself out of his car, flipping open his cellphone as he walked. He hadn\'t even bothered seeing who it was before he put it up to his ear.

\"Hello?\" Yohji released a yawn.

A pleasant and feminine voice soflty entered his ear. \"Nice to hear your voice again, Balinese.\"

\"Birman?\" Yohji was hit by a tinge of surprise. \"Still working as Kritiker\'s lap dog, or is this a personal call?\"

\"Don\'t be silly, Balinese. I\'ve just called because you\'re the only one of Weiss I could get a hold of. I have to warn you, you\'re being watched. We\'re not quite sure who\'s watching you as of yet, but we know their intentions are less than savory. Watch your backs, it could be Eszett, or something more serious than that.\"

\"Eszett? Do they still exist?\"

\"I don\'t know, but be careful.\" The phone went dead on the other end of the line. Yohji grimaced. Kritiker worrying about them was the last thing Yohji wanted to think about. He twisted the doorknob and went inside, flipping off his shoes in the doorway.

\"I\'m back!\" He looked from side to side, but was only met by silence. At times like this there was nothing he hated more than silence. He flipped on the hallway lights, almost fearing the darkness around him, something he hadn\'t done in ages.

\"Heeeeeeey, Yotan you\'re back early!\" Yohji nearly jumped at the sound of the youngest assassin\'s voice.

\"What\'re you trying to do, kill me!?\" Yohji put a hand to his chest. The younger boy simply frowned, giving Yohji an almost accusing look. Those big doe eyes could make anyone feel bad when the boy decided to really use them. He sighed. \"Sorry, Omi-chan, I just got a call from Kritiker telling us to watch ourselves.\"

\"Kritiker?\" The young boy took a step back.

\"Yeah, I know, I was shocked, too.\"

\"You should fill us in on the details. I\'ll go get the lovebirds out of Ran\'s room.\"

\"Lovebirds?\" Omi simply replied with a wink and a suggestive flick of the neck. Yohji had gotten what he meant in the first place, but he was hit by a certain degree of shock at the moment. Ran and anybody was kind of hard for his mind to grasp. Omi smiled and turned away, heading toward Ran\'s room to pass on the message.

~~~~~~

\"That\'s not enough information to concern me.\" Ran glared coldly at the older man sitting across from him. \"But Kritiker never was very good at delivering the facts.\"

Inadequate information or not, Ken still felt nervous. \"It\'s because of me, isn\'t it? I don\'t know how or why, but it is...\"

\"That\'s impossible.\" Omi pat Ken\'s shoulder reassuringly. \"Personally, I think it\'s just some group of punks with a vendetta who just happened to be good enough to track us down.\"

Yohji shook his head. \"That\'s pretty good, Omi. We don\'t just let people get away like that. If these guys are good enough to find us, maybe we should be worried.\"

Ran crossed his arms, tightly. \"You\'ll need evidence to prove it to me, and I happen to know you don\'t have any.\" He linked an arm around Ken and softened his gaze toward the obviously frightened boy. \"I don\'t need to worry about this rumor garbage. I have enough to worry about as it is.\"

\"Ran...\"

He motioned with his eyes to quiet and Ken obeyed, thoughtlessly. There was a sad serenity to Ran\'s eyes he had never seen before, a deep hurt that was trying with every fiber of its being to tear him apart. He saddened even looking into those eyes. He felt inclined to protect the redhead, suddenly, though it had always been the other way around before. He\'d never been able to save Ran before, but if he could now...

\"So you two, do what you will, but right now we have to go to the hospital.\"

Yohji\'s eyes widened. \"The hospital?\"

\"No Ran!\" Ken\'s brow furrowed, pleadingly. \"I don\'t want to go there!\"

\"You have to, it\'s worse than you think it is!\"

\"No, it\'s not! I\'ll be fine! I\'ve gone through far worse without medical attention!\"

\"I don\'t care, you\'re going now!\"

Omi almost risked a laugh. \"Who\'s the mother hen now, Ken-kun?\"

~~~~~~

\"Bombay, Bombay, you still there?\"

There was a dead quiet on the other end. The boy had been distracted all night. Yohji was starting to wonder if there was something wrong with his end of the link.

Static...\"Sorry, Balinese. It\'s uh, the target is on the third floor in her private office.\" A long sigh.

\"Hey, kid, what\'s wrong with you today? We need to get on with this mission.\"

\"Sorry. I\'m just having trouble concentrating.\"

\"We can talk about it after the mission. Try to focus on the objective and blank your mind of anything else for the time being. I\'m out. Back me.\" Yohji shook his head. If only Ran had been able to come with them, Omi wouldn\'t be so worried. But that\'s not why Yohji was worried. Yohji was more worried that Omi had so little faith in him. It was as if he thought the entire mission was being compromised without Ran at the helm.

But this is what it had been like in the beginning...

He wrapped some wire around his hand and headed for the back gate of the complex. For the most part, Yohji was surprised how loosely guarded this place was, considering it\'s reputation for human trade. There were two moderately armed men guarding each entrance and the doors had keycard locks, but the fence was short and the outward defenses were nil. If he wanted he could just jump the fence, scale a wall and slip in completely undetected. He had all the necessary tools, but it just couldn\'t be that easy.

Climbing the fence and easily tossing himself over, Yohji used the guise of shadows and the rustling of leaves and grass in the wind to his advantage. He slipped up against the wall, completely unnoticed. The first window was twenty feet up, quite a bit taller than he thought it would be.

Taking refuge in a tall tree, Yohji unwrapped more of his wire and attached a heavy sinker to the end. With one shot he had taken down the first guard, and in the following moments of confusion, he snagged the other. It was cake.

He dropped from the tree with a slight smirk on his face. He risked a few moments to shuffle through the guards\' pockets before finally coming across the keycard he needed. Omi\'d be a little upset about that, as his favorite part of missions came when he had to hack open electronic locks and disable security systems, but he would live. He slid the key through the designated slot and waited for the green light to give him the go ahead. It flashed twice, and beside him he heard the lock click.

\"Balinese, watch to your left, I\'m picking up the presence of three adults on my sensor.\"

Yohji put a hand up to his ear. \"Thanks, Bombay.\"

He stepped carefully past the first hallway, a feeling of relief passing over him when he didn\'t hear any alarm from the three men Omi had specified. It seemed like the coast would be clear from here on out.

\"Wait! What the hell?! Watch out, Balinese, he\'s right in front of you!\" Omi swallowed hard. This just didn\'t seem possible, just moments ago, there was nothing! He sure hoped Yohji was ready, there was no way he was getting out of this one.

Yohji braced himself, clutching his wire tightly with both hands. Sure enough, as he looked up a figure seemed to emerge from the nothingness, as if he came from the very darkness itself. He grit his teeth and snapped his wire. Much to his surprise, the man in front of him simply stepped out of the way as if it were nothing.

Something about this was eerily familiar. Then it hit him. The black suit, the poised stance... the glint of spectacles. It was him, that damnable American telepath from Schwarz... Brad Crawford. He had no idea any of those weirdos were still alive. A scowl marred the corner of Yohji\'s lips. He wasn\'t going to turn back now, Brad or no Brad.

This must have been who Birman was talking about...

Brad deflected the first of Yohji\'s attacks, then the second, gracefully batting the wires away with nothing more than his bare hands. He couldn\'t keep this up. Eventually Brad would go on the offensive, and when that happened... Yohji knew he\'d be screwed.

With bone wracking injustice, Yohji\'s body was thrown up against the wall, momentarily crippling his stream of thought. He had to make a break for it.

\"Balinese, do you copy me? Balinese, get your butt out of there!\"

He didn\'t have time to respond to his teammate\'s worries. As soon as Oracle\'s hold on him lessened, Yohji made a run for the stairs, the onyx haired psychic inches from his heels. He sidestepped into the first room he could see and headed at breakneck speed, right toward the window. Unfortunately, he had forgotten the distance he had previously calculated between the window and the ground below.

He landed hard on grass, his ankle buckling under him, painfully. It wouldn\'t stop him running. He could tell it was badly sprained, but he was lucky it wasn\'t more than that after such a foreboding leap.

The telepath did not follow.

~~~~~~

\"That sucked!\" Ken protested, kicking the wall.

\"You\'re in awfully high spirits after everything that\'s happened.\" Ran kicked off his shoes and started heading toward the kitchen.

\"I am NOT in high spirits! How would you feel if some guy you\'ve never met starting poking around back there?\" He glanced over at the couch, wanted to sit down, but knowing how much it would hurt if he did.

Ran almost risked a laugh, glad that Ken\'s spirit hadn\'t been broken. \"I see you\'ve never had a prostate exam before.\"

\"They do that? No way!\" Ken\'s eyes widened.

\"They do. Then they take a q-tip and stick it up your--\"

Ken slapped his hands over his ears. \"NOT listening!\"

He hadn\'t realized before how adorable it was when Ken acted like a twelve year old. In fact, it was refreshing. But he knew it was more than Ken\'s immaturity that was so charming. It was that innocence that no one could destroy, that no act of violence or cruelty could steal. It was an enviable innocence that just made people want to be around the brunette. When with him, it felt like part of that innocence belonged to them as well. Ran knew he needed Ken\'s innocence, now, more than anything. Only that could save him from what he had been becoming, day by day... If only he had admitted it sooner.

A smile crossed the redhead\'s lips. \"But, I will give you credit where it\'s due. I\'ve never had a needle up there.\"

\"Damn straight. It sucked--wait, you mean you\'ve had one of those exams?\"

\"Once a year since I hit puberty. My parents forced me to go at first, but it\'s a good habit.\" Ran tried to smile to ease the younger boy\'s shock. \"Next week will be your first then, apparently.\"

Ken stopped. \"Wait, then... Nuh-uh! I already went through this, and only for you, and that\'s far more than enough.\"

\"You\'ll thank me, later. Besides, it\'s only to make sure everything is going okay.\"

Ken knew nothing he could say or do would change Ran\'s mind. \"Well, whatever...I\'m tired, I think I\'m gonna go to bed.\"

\"I can sleep on the couch if you want to be alone, tonight.\" Ran turned toward the refrigerator, contemplating what he wanted to eat.

Ken started to blush. \"It\'s-it\'s okay, I...I like sleeping with you.\" Oh, man, he sure hoped that didn\'t come out wrong.

Ran smiled, though Ken couldn\'t see it. \"All right, I\'ll meet you in there, then.\"

\"I can stay up with you for a little.\" He blushed harder.

Ran turned toward the brunette, instantly amused when he saw the wild way Ken was blushing. He stepped up to the boy and wrapped his arms around him, kissing his forehead.

Suddenly Ken laughed. \"You\'re acting like you\'re my mom. I thought that was Omi\'s job.\"

As if on command, Ran pulled Ken into a deep kiss, his hands running up the back of Ken\'s shirt. The younger boy shivered under his touch. \"Hey--\"

Yohji, being led in by Omi, let out a gasp of surprise. That just wasn\'t something he normally walked in on. Now he was going to have to completely overhaul his image of Ran. Ran stepped back from the brunette and brushed his hands against the sides of his hips, turning back toward the open refrigerator. But, despite his surprise, Yohji suddenly had a strong urge to laugh hysterically. He bit the inside of his mouth.

Ran was the next to speak up. \"What happened to you?\"

\"He sprained his ankle jumping out of a second story window. But that\'s not all--\"

He was cut off by Yohji\'s own voice. \"Schwarz was there... or Brad Crawford, at least.\"

Ran turned toward the two, closing the fridge with sudden interest. \"Crawford? So you didn\'t complete your mission?\"

Yohji shook his head in defeat. \"I didn\'t have a chance to even make it to the third floor. By now Hu-Wan\'s probably been alerted and the whole place is going to move or lock down. I was really looking forward to closing down those sick fucks, too.\"

\"They remind you of Liott, don\'t they?\"

Yohji diverted his gaze at Ken\'s sudden mention of the organization he had lost the love of his life to. \"Yeah, Ken. They\'re just like Liott.\" Sometimes, Ken just knew how to say the wrong thing, even if he didn\'t do it on purpose.