Ghost Story

Title: Ghost Story
Author: Genuinelie(s)
Pairings: Aya/Yohji (hopefully!); possibly other
Rating: Right now, PG, PG-13 for language
Status: Ongoing
Summary: Yohji's housemates decide he needs help with a problem he doesn't want discovered, but that's pretty hard when you're being watched so carefully. But is someone watching the watchers?


*****

"What just happened? What'd I miss? Yohji just left, he looked...not good guys, he really didn't look good, but crap..." Ken came into the Koneko and froze midstep.

Aya-chan, the closest to him, was actually glaring at Omi. Omi making anyone look at him like that, let alone Aya's sweet little sister, was enough to send off jarring alarms that were all screaming for him to get the hell out of there before the place blew up.

Omi wasn't even looking at her. He was looking at Aya, and boy, did Omi look pissed off.

Aya - oh fuck, Aya was looking at him.

Too late, no escape, no last meal, no last words, Ken had the sinking realization he was about to turn into the scapegoat of whatever the hell had just transpired in the shop.

He took a step backwards, and brought both hands up defensively, even though he hadn't done anything wrong. It caused the soccer ball to drop and go bouncing across the floor, hitting Aya-chan in the back of her legs before rolling on to Aya. Aya-chan jumped and her face was guilty when she caught sight of Ken.

"Ken." To his surprise, it was Aya that spoke first. He'd actually stopped the soccer ball with his foot. "Go after Yohji. Now."

"What? Why me? Why not-" Ken protested. He didn't even know where the other man would go, and this wasn't his mess. He didn't want to be anywhere near the blond, not when he was looking like...

"I can't help him." Aya's voice was tightly angry. "Omi and I are going to talk. We have a mission tomorrow, we need Yohji back."

Omi's voice was shrill and sudden. "You only care about him coming back because we have a mission?"

"Ken." Aya snapped. His eyes burned into Ken.

And suddenly, Ken looked closer.

That wasn't just anger there. If it was, it wasn't a type Ken had seen before, not on Aya's face.

Oh, Christ. What the hell had happened, to cause Aya to be worried... "Look. he's already gone, but I'll look, got it? Don't do anything stupid. I don't know what just happened here, and I really don't think I want to, but...but...Christ." Ken turned and surveyed them all again. "Christ," he swore again, and went back outside.

Aya was worried he wouldn't be back for the mission...tomorrow night. Ken realized suddenly.

Had the man been worried Yohji was gone...for good?

Ken kicked the wall in frustration, breaking a brick in half. The sun was starting to set, casting the alleyway in partial shadow, orange light streaking up the side of the building and down the sidewalk like flames.

He was gonna deserve one hell of an explanation when he got back.

Hopefully with Yohji's sorry, melodramatic ass in tow.

Ken swallowed past the sudden nervous lump in his throat.

*****

Inside the Koneko, Ran kicked the soccer ball at Omi's head. The youngest assassin ducked deftly, and the ball crashed through the kitchen window.

"Ran!" Aya-chan choked. She ran backwards at the sudden movement and the sudden noise, and cowered into the wall.

"Aya!" Omi had shouted at the same time. There was real fear in his voice.

"Aya-chan, why don't you go upstairs?" Ran said, voice low. He looked at her, expression dangerous, though he obviously tried to make it soft for her.

He didn't succeed.

"No." Tears were starting to leak from the corner of her eyes. She turned a worried expression to Omi.

Was this what Omi had been trying to protect her from? Had her brother become a monster?

Omi looked back at her, expression grim. "It's okay, Aya-chan. We probably need to talk. I should tell him -"

"This involves me!" Aya-chan burst out. "I'm staying. Ran, you can't blame Omi, it was both of us -"

It was obvious what her brother and Yohji had been talking about. That line, what Yohji had said to him - it was so obviously a confession. Aya-chan had never heard Yohji speak like that, not to anyone. She had never heard him sound upset, or so worried. And Ran, Ran hadn't said anything to him! Nothing at all. Like he didn't even care how upset Yohji was.

But she'd hoped that maybe he'd been about to. She had hoped that maybe her brother cared about him too, and just didn't know how to say it. But then Omi had...

Oh, she was so mad at all of them! And Yohji...

She felt completely lost. Aya-chan had never seen someone look so...so...

She turned her eyes back to her brother.

Yes, she had. She realized. She had seen someone look as...as unhappy as Yohji did. Her brother frequently looked like that. She just didn't recognize it, because his face was so familiar, and she'd only been seeing what she wanted to. She had been trying so hard to pretend that nothing had changed so much that it couldn't be fixed...

Was this what Omi had been trying to protect her from? Omi and Ken, though, they didn't look like that. So she couldn't blame it on what the four men did, not entirely, could she? Because Omi and Ken, they were usually so happy, so normal...

And each of them had told her, time and time and time again, that they killed people who hurt other people, no one else. They were heroes. She believed that, she really did, because they were good people. She believed that too, with all her heart.

She was crying harder now, despite herself.

Yohji had always just tried so hard, she realized suddenly. He just always appeared so carefree, so pleasant, teasing and joking and flirting. He was always so kind to her. He was mostly kind to everyone, except when he was teasing their other housemates and her brother. But had he really been so miserable all this time? She didn't notice how unhappy he was, not until Omi had brought it to her attention the other day in the shop, before the two of them started trying to set Yohji up with boys and get him to forget his crush on her brother. Because that definitely was the problem, after what she'd heard him say when she and Omi had come into the shop a few minutes earlier.

Why were her brother and Yohji different? She knew how much Ran had suffered while she'd been asleep, and she almost blamed herself for it, because she knew it was partially her fault, even though he said it wasn't. Because he'd taken her name...like he wished he'd been her. She wished she'd been awake to help him. She wished he would let her help him now, even though she didn't know what she could possibly do to help.

She hated this. Older people were supposed to be comforting. They were supposed to know what to do. They were supposed to be the ones you got answers from, the ones who took care of you. Her parents had always known what to do, always. Ran himself had always just been supportive. It had been the same before the accident, and after, when she'd woken up from her coma, and she just hadn't seen...

"Aya-chan, I'm sorry!" Ran took a step toward her, then another. "I'm sorry. It's okay."

"Yeah," Omi echoed, forcing a smile at her despite looking like he was about to cry himself. "Don't worry."

She glared at him, then at her brother. "Leave me alone!" She gasped. Aya-chan threw her books down on the floor and fled upstairs, to her room. She slammed the door behind her and locked it, then threw herself down on her bed and cried.

*****

In the shop, Aya turned back to Omi, rage seeping onto his face in the absence of his sister. "What did she mean, her fault too? What have you done?"

Omi held up his hands, flinching. He took a step backward, so the counter was between him and Aya.

This is a nightmare. Aya was going to kill him, Omi was almost certain of it, and he didn't even think that anything so bad had happened. Not to make Aya this angry. There wasn't even anyone home to stop him. Ken would come back and find that Aya had chopped him up and planted bits of him into the potting soil, like that serial killer he'd seen on the news the other night -

The one they'd killed, Omi reminded himself, and the thought wasn't really all that comforting. He didn't have his darts on him, and was pretty sure Aya would beat him in a fight, anyway.

"Aya, this doesn't really have anything to do with you, so please don't be angry. But Aya-chan and I have been trying to set Yohji up. With...with guys...that's what she meant."

"With guys?" Aya echoed. "Yohji?" It tripped him up just enough to knock the ire from his face for a moment, before the swordsman refocused on Omi. "Why do you think I would care..."

"I don't! Aya, that's the whole problem!" Omi scrambled to hold on to Aya's attention, because the confusion seemed to make him less angry. "What he said -"

"Isn't your business." Aya growled.

"But it is! Aya, if it's going to..." Omi took in a deep breath and blew it out again, attempting to keep himself from crying. "Yohji's been falling apart."

"I know." The violet eyes were narrowed, but his tone was quieter.

Omi stumbled on that. "Y-you know? But-" Omi took another deep breath. "Do you know it's because of you?"

There was a long pause. Omi and Aya stared each other down.

"That's also not my problem. He'll get over it." Aya finally snapped. "Omi. Even if that is true, why do you think it's your business?"

"Because it's affecting the team, Aya, and that is my business!" Omi put his hands on his hips. "Aya-chan and I think Yohji..." His lip started trembling. "It just been really bad since Neu. We hoped if we set him up with someone..."

"The boy. The one who came to the shop looking for him and hit on you."

Omi nodded, swallowing past the lump in his throat.

"Yohji told me Ken met a boy in the shop. Was that also you?"

Omi nodded. "Please don't be mad, Aya, it just wasn't any of your business. We were just trying to help Yohji."

"So you and my sister..." Aya frowned. "Have been working together..."

"Please don't tell Yohji! He doesn't know, and now...now..."

"You should have stayed out of this." The anger was back in Aya's voice. "We needed to talk, Omi. Whatever is going on with Yohji..." Omi watched as Aya let out a long breath. "He said something to me..."

A breeze was coming in through the broken window. A shard of glass trembled and fell into the sink. Omi watched warily as Aya turned his face toward it, unblinking. After a moment, Aya turned back to Omi, visibly more collected, although still frowning heavily. "If it is because of me, Omi...that seems unlikely. If it is true, we should not have been interrupted. You should have stayed out of it."

"Ken will find him," Omi said, his voice small.

"Hn." Aya was frowning at the window again, as if it was alone the source of all trouble. Omi was glad the glare wasn't aimed at him any longer.

"I'll pay for it," Omi offered hesitantly.

Aya ignored him.

Omi took the chance to bolt for the stairs.

"Omi."

Omi stopped immediately, gut sinking.

"Don't bother my sister. But...keep an eye on her. Please. I'll be up later to talk to her. Right now..."

Omi nodded. "Yes, Aya."

He paused, making sure that was all Aya had left to say. When silence prevailed, he ran upstairs.

*****

"Whoa, man, what happened to the window?" Ken let out a low whistle, creeping into the shop. The lights were off despite the sun having gone down well over an hour prior. Ken flipped them on but stayed by the doorway, poised to make a run for it if he had to.

Aya was nailing boards across the pane, kneeling on the counter. "Your soccer ball is outside," Aya replied, as if that were an answer.

Which, Ken realized ruefully, It kinda was. Except he doubted that it was because they were having a good ol' time kicking it around the shop while he was out looking for their missing teammate.

"I don't wanna know," Ken muttered, eyeing his basketcase of a teammate calmly patching up the damage.

He went outside and found his soccerball a few minutes later behind the dumpster, luckily undamaged.

Aya was off the counter when he came back inside, brushing off the counter, and then his clothes. He retrieved a dustpan from under the sink and began to sweep up shards of glass from the floor.

"I found Yohji," Ken mentioned hesitantly.

Aya's hands stilled. The fall of his red bangs covered his eyes. It made Ken edgy. Aya was acting like it - all of it - was his fault.

Ken had, up until this point, been sure that if Aya did ever crack up for good, it would be the start of the apocalypse. He took in a quiet breath. "He was still in the garage. He went out for a bit, Aya. Said he'd be back later though, okay?"

That hadn't been all of it. Yohji had also found himself a big old flask of whiskey, and Ken wasn't entirely sure he had meant to go anywhere at all. But after Yohji had given him that shark-smile and told him to go fuck off, he hadn't been about to stay and comfort the man, either.

Aya gave a short nod, making his eartails bob, and still didn't look at Ken.

Ken let out a breath. "Uh. Okay, then." He backed toward the stairs. "I don't wanna know," he muttered. "Ever." He turned and grabbed a beer from the fridge, then retreated to the mission room.

*****

"Go away." His sister's voice wobbled, as if she'd been sobbing.

Aya drew his hand back, and stared miserably at the closed door of his sister's room. He looked down and saw Omi looking up at him. The younger assassin looked like he'd been crying, and despite his anger at Omi, it made the sliver of guilt come back. It had sounded like Omi hadn't done anything truly wrong, even though Aya would have liked very much to have blamed everything on his youngest teammate.

It was easier to blame Omi than himself.

Omi pushed himself to his feet. "Aya, I-"

Aya gave him a short nod. "It's okay, Omi." He said.

Omi looked contrite. "I heard Ken come back -"

"Yohji is okay. Ken said he was in the garage," Aya explained tersely.

Omi's voice came out as a whisper. "I really didn't do anything to Aya-chan, Aya. Please, please believe me...!"

Aya winced, and looked away from Omi. "I know. Go away."

"She's just had a lot to deal with, Aya!"

"I know, Omi, leave us alone!" Aya knocked on the door again, still looking away from Omi.

Omi hesitated, then started down the hallway. Aya glanced after him to see Omi throw a concerned glance over his shoulder, then disappear onto the stairwell. It looked like he was headed up to the roof.

Aya stored that away for later.

He knocked again on the door. "Aya-chan! Open up!"

The door swung open and his fist fell through thin air. His sister's eyes were bloodshot.

"Aya-chan. I'm sorry." He whispered it to his sister.

She stared back at him, looking him up and down.

"I'm sorry," Aya repeated.

Aya-chan threw herself forward, into his arms. Startled, she had to hug him for a moment before he realized to move his own arms from his sides, and hug her back.

*****