Three Kitties and a Tomcat

Title: Three Kittens and a Tomcat
Author: Opus
Warnings: Er...naked Youji...bad language...
Disclaimer: Matsuri Akino's and whoever Weiss belongs to, not me, no money, please don't sue.
Summary: Weiss has been discovered by Schwartz. What now?
Author notes: I'm still not happy with this chapter, but I'm going to post it now, or I'll spend forever nitpicking it.


Chapter 5


Leon stepped down from Youji's bedroom window heedless of the scattered glass underfoot.
"Damn, I missed," he said, thoroughly irritated. Before Schwartz, he'd never had a problem hitting his targets.

The other members of Weiss just stared at him. Ken was the only one of them in full pajamas, and he'd had the presence of mind to put his bugnuks on. Aya was standing just inside the door holding Leon's bedsheet around his waist with one hand and holding his sword in the other. Youji still lay on the floor, quite nude, his wire out at the ready. He looked pretty shook up.

Ken was the first to break the silence. "Um, Leon...doesn't that hurt?" he said, pointing at the blonde's feet.

Leon looked down, wincing internally as he saw which pair of boxers he'd chosen, and then made a mental note to pull the glass out of his feet, which were bleeding pretty badly. "Yeah, but it' big big deal. I'm going back to bed." That said, he walked out of Youji's apartment, and headed down the hallway to his own. Aya followed him out the door.

Ken knelt down next to Youji. "Um, I think you can put that away now," he said, carefully keeping his eyes averted. Youji slowly relaxed and let the wire back into the watch.

"Did you see that, Kenken?! He fired right through a closed door and hit the guy!"

"Yes, I was impressed. Lucky for you, he se to to know exactly where to aim. Look, I'll leave so you can get dressed. Do you need help cleaning up?"

"Er, no. I've got it."

"You sure?"

Youji had recovered enough to flash Ken one of his charming smiles. "Don't worry about me, ne? I'm not going back to sleep tonight, so it'll give me something to do."

Ken didn't look so sure. "If you say so. Come knock on my door if you need anything."

"You're so sweet, Kenken. Good night. Or morning, I should say."

*I so need a smoke right now.* Youji thought after Ken left. He pulled on his pants and grabbed a pair of shoes so he wouldn't have to walk barefoot on the glass. Maybe it didn't bother Leo-kun, but he didn't want to get all sliced up.

The first order of business was to find his cigarettes, which was easy enough. Finding his lighter was another problem. After a few minutes of searching, he finally decided to ask Leon for his.

He walked into his teammate's room without even bothering to knock- the American's policy since he'd joined the team had been 'if the door's unlocked come on in.'

Leon was sitting next to his desk picking glass out of one foot. Aya sat across from him with the other foot in his lap doing the same. He was still wrapped in only the sheet, and his katana lay on the desk.

You Mangy bastard was sprawled out on the bed watching the proceedings with his eternally malevolent gaze.

Using his not-inconsiderable powers of observation, Youji noticed that Leon's bed was missing its sheet. Not to mention the unmistakable scent of lovemaking faintly lingering in the air. No way. Leon had gotten -Aya- into his bed? Icy, heartless Aya fell for this guy? *I just don't see it,* Youji thought. He'd told Leon he wanted him to get their uptight leader to loosen up a little, but this was ridiculous.

"What's up Yo-tan?" Leon asked, then cursed as Aya was less than gentle in removing a shard.

"Anou...I wanted to borrow your lighter. I seem to have lost mine in all the excitement." Youji said sheepishly, running a hand through his hair. The blonde American frowned. Kudou could make even the simplest movement sexual in nature, and it was getting annoying.

"Sure," Leon opened a drawer and pulled one out. "Here," he said and tossed it over.

"Thanks." Youji immediately started to light up. If he hadn't been so obviously in need of something to calm his nerves, Leon would have made him stand by the window. But he let it pass, and even Aya didn't seem inclined to complain as the dark blonde flopped down on Leon's couch.

Aya finished the task and watched the wounds close up. Rapid healing was definitely an advantage for an assassin. He wondered what other abilities Leon had. Now that Schwartz had found them, he would have to find out soon. "I'm going to go get dressed." He announced, and got up.

"Be sure to bring Leon's sheet back," Youji said with a wink. The swordsman gave him a customary death glare and stalked out, trying to keep as much dignity as was possible given the circumstances. Leon responded with a growl and grabbed the nearest book off his desk to fling at the playboy, who laughed as it bounced off his upraised arms.

Grumbling about wise-ass teammates, Leon pulled a t-shirt out of his dresser and put it on, along with a pair jeans and sandals. "Let's go out on the balcony; I could use a smoke, too," he said.

++++++++++

"His name is Leon Orcott, according to Fujimiya," said Shuldich, who was having a smoke of his own. That was too close. If not for the swordsman's timing in running into the hallway, he'd have had no warning, and probably would be dead. As it was, his arm was bandaged and temporarily useless. "I didn't have time to get much more than that from the kitty's mind."

"I can't find him in Kritiker's files. He's American, right? I'll see what I can find on him as far as the U.S. is concerned." There was silence save for the clicking of keys from all four assassins as Nagi did a quick search. It wasn't long before Leon showed up on the screen.

"That's him all right," The German confirmed.

"This is his record from the L.A. police department. He was a detective there, until 13 years ago. That's a picture of him at 25, when he was supposedly killed in an explosion."

A frown creased the German's forehead. "That can't be right. If that's true, the man hasn't aged a day in those 13 years."

Nagi simply shrugged, then started to look through the autopsy reports. After a moment he started to look puzzled.

"I told you, he's a ghost," Farfarello said.

"Don't start with that again," Crawford warned.

"He might not be the real Leon Orcott," Nagi suggested, after studying the screen for a bit.

"What makes you say that?" The dark-haired American asked.

"These autopsy reports...they're too accurate. Usually in a fake death, there are missing pieces, and assumptions made. Everything here is in black and white, just as it should be. They even had an actual identifiable body in this case."

"It would make sense to take on the identity of a dead man, but what are the chances that they would look alike? Do you think he had plastic surgery? I don't think that explains the lack of aging. And from what I understand the Youma has been in Kritiker a long time," Shuldich thought aloud.

"Youma?"

"Something else I got from Fujimiya's mind. A nickname of sorts for our tom."

"A vengeful ghost, just as I said." Farfarello said.

Crawford snorteIt'sIt's just a name. The man's definitely not a ghost, get that into your thick skull already."

"He's still a problem, if your powers don't work on him." Nagi said.

"Find everything you can on him," Crawford ordered. "If he's not who he seems to be, we need to know. We need to know anything and everything about him that could be used against him."

"Finding his family should be easy enough. We could use that if he's the real Leon Orcott..." Nagi mused. "As for any other personal weakness...it will take some time."

"I don't know how much time we have," Crawford said. "The future of this new fourth is a blank to me. It's as if the man doesn't exist."

"Dead men have no future," The blue-haired assassin mumbled sullenly.

"Dammit, Farfarello..." Crawford started, but the redheaded German came up from behind him and wrapped an arm around his waist, then whispered something lewd into his ear. He caught a glimpse of what he and Shuldich were about to do, and he had to hold himself back from tossing his lover over his shoulder and carting him off to the bedroom. As it was, he grabbed the telepath by his lapels and dragged him out of the room, leaving Nagi to his task.

The youngest member of Schwartz shook his head and continued his research on the enigma that was Leon Orcott...

***************

Youji and Leon went downstairs to the living room balcony. Once safely outside, the playboy went into a tirade on how unsuited the swordsman and the sniper were, and he was, in his own humble opinion, a good judge of personality compatibility. As far as those two were concerned, on a scale of one to ten they had a big fat zilch. Youji thought he himself would have better luck trying to date their stoic leader. Leon had to smirk at that.

Youji didn't even notice and continued his rant. "It's only been, what, 6 weeks since you joined us?! Aya doesn't warm up to people like that! Ever! Not once in seven years has this happened. Are you putting something in his food?"

Leon sighed, and not for the first time. He didn't need to be told that Ran was acting out of character. Even he could tell that the swordsman was uneasy with the intensity of his attraction to him. "No. And he and I both know it won't last, because there's nothing more between us than a shitload of sexual chemistry. I'd give it a couple of weeks, tops, before it wears, an, and he gives me the brush-off."

Youji groaned. "And what happens then?"

"Nothing. I let him go, things go back to normal."

"Relationships aren't that simple, even if it's just casual sex. That's why I stick to one night stands with strangers."

"And it's a small miracle you haven't caught anything nasty yet." Leon took in a draught and breathed out the smoke. "I like Ran, but I'm not that attached to him. And he doesn't allow himself to get attached to anyone, either. We'll be fine."

Youji didn't believe a word of it. "It's going to be ugly, Leon."

Leon didn't reply, but he somehow *knew* what was going to happen, in spite of Youji's misgivings. He felt a little guilty about it, as he strongly suspected that somehow he was responsible for the redhead's abnormal behavior, and that it had something to do with the way Aya reminded him of D. *It could be worse, I suppose,* he thought. At least he had some hope that he would still get along with his team leader after their tryst was over, which was more than he could say for the women he dated way back when, in his previous life.

Then Leon grinned devilishly. "You're not jealous, are you, Yo-tan?"

"W-what?!" Youji sputtered. "You know me better than that!!"

The taller blond just laughed. "And you should know I'm just teasing," he said, though part of him wished he had attracted Youji's attention instead of Aya's.

They both heard footsteps coming down the stairs. "Ken," was Leon's identification, without even turning around.

Youji nodded. "How he can move like a cat during a mission and sound like a herd of elephants the rest of the time is beyond me," he commented, but in his mind he noted how Leon had sidetracked the conversation yet *again*. *He knows how to push my buttons and I let him do it,* was his bitter thought.

"I thought you were going to bed," Ken said.

Leon shrugged. "I'm having a smoke first. What's on your mind?"

"We can't stay here. Schwartz will be back."

"Not tonight. It'll probably even be a few nights before we see them again," Leon replied with certainty.

"You can't count on that, Leo-kun," Youji said. "They know they can take us with their powers. Schuldich and Crawford probably went to get the others. They'll try to come after us before we can disappear again. "

"That's true, but they're a cautious bunch, too. I'm sure they haven't survived this long by being too cocky. I surprised their telepath, and they're not used to that happening. I'm sure right now they're trying to figure out who I am and what I'm capable of, which I can imagine is going to give them some trouble."

"What makes you think you caught Schuldich by surprise?" It was Aya, who had joined them out on the balcony as well.

"He didn't react to my presence until you came out into the hallway and saw me. He didn't sense me that time I shot Farfarello, either."

"How do you know that? The door was closed!" Ken said.

Leon shifted uncomfortably. Youji recognized it as a signal that the blonde was going to make one of his swift disappearances soon. "I...knew. Don't ask me how, I just did." That, at least was true.

Aya reached up and brushed away the scabs from the cat scratch marks. Freshly healed skin lay underneath. This was no surprise to him or Youji, who had noted his remarkable regenerative powers the day Leon had joined the team, when by evening the damage done to his arm by the demon cat had disappeared. Ken, however, had been oblivious. He looked down at Leon's feet, which were almost completely healed.

"What the hell?!!" he blurted out.

"Leo-kun," Youji said softly, "What happened to you that night? Don't tell me you don't know. Something must have happened, otherwise you would have let people know you were still alive."

Leon's body went taut. "I don't want to talk about it," he muttered.

*Don't push too hard,* Aya thought, though it was the same question he had wanted to ask.
"Leon, if you have abilities similar to Schwartz's we need to know. I need to know so I can plan our strategy."

Leon put hace ace in his hands. "You've already seen what I can do. We've sparred enough that you know how I fight." It was true. Leon moved with a speed and strength that Aya was no match for.

Ken was lost. "What night? What are you guys talking about?!"

The tall blonde straightened up. "He's asking me about the night I was killed." And with that he disappeared, to the shock of the other three assassins.

Youji blinked, then sighed. "It's a touchy subject with him. Saa...he won't be back for a while. Has anyone else seen him vanish like that?"

Ken shook his head. Aya simply stared off in the direction of the living room. "Have you?" he asked.

"He normally leaves the room before I lose track of him. He doesn't just blip out of existence like that," Youji said. "I would say something happened to change him at the genetic research lab where he was supposedly killed, if his earlier medical records hadn't shown him surviving that mortal wound. Not to mention he's never explained where that doppelganger body that was found came from."

Aya had been lost in thought, but now he spoke up. "The autopsy photos showed old bullet scars such that matched wounds he suffered according to his medical file. The Leon we know has no scars whatsoever."

"No, I suppose he doesn't," Ken said, bringing up in his mind's eye the image of Leon in only his boxers. "Is he a fake then? Can we trust him?"

"He's been working for Kritiker for 13 years," Aya said, "And has never given cause for distrust, fake or not."

"I think he's the real Leon," Youji said, "He knows things that I don't think a fake would know. Besides, I don't think a fake would have taken time off to look up his family."

"Huh?" Ken was still confused.

"That's why Kritiker had a hard time contacting him when Persia wanted him to join us." Aya explained.

"But he was gone for months! How long does it take to find out how your family's doing?"

"I don't ask him personal questions like that, any more than I do the rest of you," Youji answered. "It's like pulling teeth to get him to talk about his past as it is. If he gets too uncomfortable, he leaves."

"He joined Kritiker to avoid awkward questions," Aya said.

Youji had to nod his agreement. "Still, we're his teammates, he shouldn't be hiding important things from us. I mean, he may not be hiding the fact he has unusual abilities, but I keep getting the feeling that he's keeping some major secret, and I don't want to find out what it is when we're fighting for our lives out there."

Ken was aghast. "Gah! How can you two be so calm about this? The guy's a freak!!"

Aya said nothing and stared off into space lost in thought. He knew all about personal agendas, and he knew Leon had at least one...but he didn't think it involved Schwartz.

"A freak that has a better chance of beating Schwartz than any of us," Youji said in response to Ken. "Besides, which one of us wouldn't want to be able to heal quickly and disappear at will like that?"

"I don't believe this," The brunette muttered and went back inside.

Balinese and Abyssian exchanged a look. "I'll talk to him when he gets back," Aya said.

"Good luck, Aya. You'll need it." Youji extinguished what was left of his cigarette and they both went back inside.
**************

TBC


Omake:

Youji: So, how do you vanish like that?

Leon: *holds up a ring* One ring to rule them all, one ring to find them...