Fouett�

(Read Overtime first, if you haven't already, otherwise parts of this may not make sense.)
---

Ran shifted into the left lane, and sped up, enjoying the freedom of the empty back-road he'd chosen. Traffic out of Tokyo was, as usual, horrific, but he'd left it behind hours ago. A sign flashed by - Gifu, right lane only - but he ignored it.

Aya had suggested he fly out, considering it was a shorter trip, and he'd been considering it, before changing his mind on the basis that he wouldn't have had his car, and boredom ended up being the last straw that drove him out early. Omi was nearly unbearable - something was pressing heavily down on his mind, and Omi with heavy thoughts was never a pleasant thing. Ran had always born the brunt of Yohji and Ken's teasing about his sour moods, but in the years since his sister's awakening - and Sakura's timely intervention in explaining what her brother had been doing with his life since she'd fallen asleep - he'd been generally happy. He wasn't the carefree kid he'd been before his parents deaths - that part of him had died with them. But he found himself smiling more often, and laughing, and he felt lighter for it, but still...

Empty.

He was lonely, and he knew it, but he wasn't comfortable admitting it further than that. He was even jealous of Yohji, who'd found in Farfarello a surprising companion. Even surrounded by the girls in the shop, and his team-mates, he felt lonely, and he knew that it wasn't just him. Yohji and Omi felt the same, he was sure - Ken alleviated his darker feelings by heading out to the fields and playing with the neighborhood kids - but Yohji was dealing with it, and Omi was, as ever, an enigma.

Ran turned his thoughts to his youngest team-mate. He'd been audience to Omi's furious tirade against Yohji disappearing for more than twenty four hours, although he'd hung back in the hallway and avoided the blond as he exited the apartment. There seemed to be a dark cloud hanging over the archer lately, and it was driving Ran to distraction trying to figure out what it was. No matter how hard he thought about it, the answer just wouldn't come. He resolved to ask Aya about it, who had a surprising insight into their troubles, despite living nearly five hundred miles away.

He sighed, and decided that she needed to live closer. Maybe he'd move closer to her. Kritiker would certainly help him out if he chose to transfer, although he didn't relish the idea of getting a new team, or leaving his old one behind.

He'd been with the Weiss for nearly seven years, now, however, and Manx and Birman often informed them that they were not only the longest-lasting team, they were the most successful as well. Most of the hit-teams were killed or disbanded within two years of forming, and Weiss had been operating at full strength for six and a half. It wouldn't be unreasonable for him to request a transfer to a data-collection team, or some other non-lethal job. Kritiker had an office down there - he wasn't supposed to know about it, but Omi had had one too many drinks one night, and hacked their computers - and he could even settle down, apply for a job in the office, and retire from field-work altogether.

He knew that was what would make Aya happiest - she worried endlessly about the four of them, and was constantly asking about them and their missions, occasionally even in the middle of the night. She'd called once at four in the morning, in tears, and convinced that they'd been killed after a nightmare, and it had taken Ran nearly three hours to calm her down and reassure her that not only were the four of them in excellent health, they hadn't had any missions in a long time.

That's what I'll do, then. he decided, and felt better for it. He deliberated long and hard on a topic, but once he came to a decision, he stuck by it. I'll tell Aya first - she'll be ecstatic - and then I'll give Manx a call on the way home and let her know I'm moving. Hn, first Yohji and now me. I guess it's time for Weiss to break up after all.

It wasn't a particularly happy thought, but he knew he'd remain friends with the rest of them, even from five hundred miles away.

---

Omi was fretting again. It wasn't a particularly new problem, but his thoughts kept chasing one another around in circles until something new occurred to him.

He'd been panicked about Yohji's disappearance, and the knowledge that he was leaving made it seem like their close-knit family was finally breaking apart. It's got to happen sometime, he tried to tell himself, but the thought that he was losing his friends refused to dissipate. Ken had been seeing a local boy he'd met in a nearby gay bar - Ran was assexual, Yohji would hit anything that moved, and Omi was still undecided, but unwilling to experiment, but Ken was a confirmed 'twink' as he jokingly referred to himself. He'd even convinced Omi to go to the bar with him, but it had been an uncomfortable experience for the blond, who wasn't entirely comfortable going into bars in the first place, to say nothing of a gay bar.

His boyfriend, a foreign boy of about Omi's height, was called Jason, and had a friendly, round face. He spoke passing well Japanese, and could read some of it as well, but he understood better than anything, and had a wild sense of humour. He was a perfect match to Ken, and Omi had never been happier for his team-mate.

He sighed, and tried to turn his attention away from his team, but his traitorous mind wouldn't be kept away. Yohji had disappeared again, but this time he'd checked with Manx - she knew where he was, and basically what he was up to. Ran was on his way to see his sister, Ken and Jason were heading to a hotel for a week up in Hokkaido - they'd told everyone else they were going for a soccer camp, which was believable because Jason was just as nutty about Soccer as Ken - and Omi was left...

Here. With Yohji moved out, or moving out, he would have the entire building to himself, and he wasn't looking forward to it.

Already bored, he snatched up his helmet, pulled on his jacket, and slammed out the back door, intending to go for a ride.

---

Ran was just starting to get tired by the time he reached his sister's house. It was beside a pleasant looking shrine, where she worked some days. It had been her own choice - she was working two jobs and maintaining her own house, and Ran thought she'd never looked happier. She was even saving up to go to college, something that Ran had begun thinking about lately himself. Maybe he'd go for night classes, now that he was planning to settle himself down at a desk job.

He hadn't even turned the car off before the front door was wrenched open and Aya flung herself down the yard, wearing an inappropriately short tee-shirt and tight jeans. Ran was momentarily struck by the thought that she wasn't his baby sister any more, no matter how much alike they looked. She was a grown woman, and could dress the way she liked.

It didn't mean he had to like it, however.

"Aya, where did you get that shirt? Didn't they have one a size bigger?" He asked jokingly, and braced himself to catch her when she leapt into the air to throw her arms around him.

"RAN! I haven't seen you in months and the first thing you do is criticise my clothes!" She squeezed, and then dropped down, taking his hand. "I'm right in the middle of rearranging things. Would you like to help?" She flashed him the bright smile he was unable to resist, and groaned.

"You mean you waited until I got here to start, so that I'd have to help, right?" he asked, but didn't mind too much. It had been close to four years since she'd awoken, but he still recalled the two hellish years he'd spent fighting day and night for her life. She of course had no trouble taking advantage of him, and made no denial for his accusation.

"You're stronger than I am," she said by way of an excuse. "Now, tell me what's happening up in the City. Omi wrote the other day and told me you guys had been going crazy under the missions. I'm glad you got a break, too. I've been wanting to move that couch for months."

Ran sighed dramatically. "I fight furiously for you for years, and this is the thanks I get." Aya patted his shoulder unsympathetically.

"You're a knight, Ran. Rescuing damsels in distress is in your job description." She indicated where he could leave his bags, and then how she wanted the massive couch arranged against the far wall of her living room. Between the two of them, the managed to move it satisfactorily, but Ran collapsed down onto it as soon as she pronounced it done.

"Good," he gasped. "We'll get the rest tomorrow." He placed a hand dramatically over his chest, and pretended that he was having a heart attack. Aya didn't believe it for a moment, and stomped her foot.

"Ra~an!" she whined. Ran shook his head, refusing to fall victim to her pouty-face.

"I'm tired, I just drove nine hours to get here. Besides, it's not as though I'm leaving tomorrow."

She stomped her foot again. "Fine, you can sleep," she said. "But if you'd flown like I told you to, I could have picked you up, and you could have used my car, and then you wouldn't be tired right now."

"I enjoyed the drive," Ran argued, but didn't object to her laughing 'Good night,'

---

The next morning, he was awoken bright and early by Aya pounding on his door with all the gentle finesse of a blind elephant. "Wake up, brother! I've got a surprise for you!"

Blearily, Ran dragged himself out of bed and cracked open the door, glowering at his perky sister. "What?" he grunted. She giggled.

"I've got to go to work, but I called my friend Hanako over to keep you company." She flitted away, leaving behind a flowery scent that momentarily gagged him. Did she bathe in that stuff? he wondered briefly, and then a second female voice from down the hall alerted him to the fact that he was still in his pajama pants. He hurriedly showered and dressed, paying unusual attention to how he looked.

I'm not looking for a girlfriend, he told himself. So don't be silly. I can't have a girlfriend until I move anyway. I could never expose anyone else to my life.

He made an effort to appear relaxed as he walked down the hall, and even though he was expecting another person, he was still floored by the appearance of Hanako.

Her long black hair hung in a braid to her hips, and she wore large hoop earrings. Her shirt was in the same style as Aya's, although, he noted with relief, not quite as small. She wore capri pants that hugged her tiny hips snugly, and she stared up at him with the biggest pair of green eyes he'd ever seen in another human being.

"Fujiwara-san, this is my brother, Fujimiya Ran." Aya said, giggling. She hadn't missed the way Ran had sized her friend up instantly, or the way - that Ran hadn't seen - Hana checked out her brother. Confident that her good deed for the day had been done, she floated out the door, already wondering what sort of things they'd get up to. It was high time Hana had a boyfriend, and she knew Ran was lonely.

Once the sound of Aya's car leaving the drive had faded out, Ran and Hana said at the same time, "Sorry about her."

Ran grinned, and Hana blushed. "No really, I'm sorry," Ran insisted. "It's very kind of you to come over, and if you have other plans today, feel free to do whatever you need to."

"So polite," Hana murmured. "I have nothing else to do, and so if you don't mind, I can show you around town?" Ran didn't even have to consider it.

"I would be honoured," he said, and meant it.

---

After the movie, they exited the theatre laughing so hard tears were coming out of their eyes. "And then he said-" Hana started, and it trailed off into laughter. Ran understood, however, and laughed harder. He couldn't remember the last time he'd let go like this. After a few minutes, she straightened, wiping her eyes.

"I haven't laughed like that in a long time," she said wistfully. Ran's smile turned sad.

"Neither have I." Hana gave him a startled look, and he shrugged. Their eyes caught, and Ran felt the beginnings of a moment, when it was ruined by the sound of a stomach growling. Hana's face turned violently red.

"I'm sorry!" she said. "I skipped breakfast this morning." Ran grinned, and rubbed his stomach as well.

"That popcorn just barely took the edge off. Would you like to get something to eat?"

He picked out a nice-looking restaurant, and was gratified when she smiled. "This is my favourite place! I always try to come here at least once a month."

"Have you been yet?" Ran asked, almost disappointed.

"Rent was higher than I was expecting, so no! You have great taste!" She took his hand, and he allowed her to lead him in without taking notice of it immediately. It just seemed so natural to hold her hand.

"I'll tell you a secret," Ran said when they were waiting for a table. Hana looked at him expectantly. "This is my favourite restaurant, too. I always drag Aya out here when I'm down from Tokyo."

She laughed easily, and then her face fell. "I forgot," she said quietly. Ran wondered at the shift in her mood.

"Forgot?" he prompted, hoping she wouldn't realize that their hands were still clasped between them.

"You live in Tokyo. That's so far away. I was just hoping that I could see you again, but Aya said you're only here for a week."

The waittress collected them, smiling gently at their hands, and deposited them at a quiet table in the back. Hana flushed to the roots of her hair when she realized they'd been holding hands the whole time.

"I do live in Tokyo," Ran said after the waittress had taken their drink orders. "But I'm planning to move here soon. I don't like being so far from Aya, and..." He fixed his eyes on the wall, almost embarrassed. "I'd like to see you again, too." Venturing a glance at Hana, he noticed she looked a little embarrassed, but also happy.

"Excuse me," Ran said suddenly. "I can't help but ask... are you... were your parents American?" The word "American" conjured nasty images up of Schwarz's precognitive, although he had to admit that recently - within the last year or so - Schwarz had become less and less of a problem. And with Yohji involved with one of their member, he couldn't hate them completely.

"My mother was. She was in the American military, and stationed here in Japan on one of the bases. She met my father here, and they fell in love, and when she got out of the Navy, she moved over here permanently." Hana seemed to be used to fielding questions of this nature, and also looked like she was at ease with her dual heritage. Ran admired her for it. He'd been teased endlessly as a child for having violet eyes, to say nothing of his hair, and knew that she must have gone through something similar.

"So what do you do for a living?" she asked finally. Ran panicked for a brief moment, before a lie sprung to his lips.

"I work for the government," he said. "It's a secret job, so I can't tell you anything about it. I'm sorry. I do work part time in a flower shop, as well."

Hana managed to ignore the 'work for the government' and latched onto 'flower shop'. "A flower shop! I love flowers! Sunflowers are my absolute favourite! It's funny, because I hate the colour yellow!" She giggled. "What about you?"

Ran shrugged helplessly. "I like roses?" he ventured. He knew an encyclopedic amount about flowers, but he'd never really thought of them as like and dislike, although his team-mates - Omi in particular - were very attached to their favoured flower.

"Roses? Everyone likes roses. Don't you have any others?" Hana pressed, but he was saved from asking by the waittress bringing their food.

They ate in silence for a while, and then she speared him with her eyes. "Seriously. Just roses?"

"Just roses," Ran confessed. "I also like freesia, cattleyas, and gentians," he added michieviously. She smiled.

"I love flowers," she said dreamily. The lunch turned into going to the park to feed ducks, which turned into going to dinner, which turned into going to see a concert, which ended up with them not getting back until nearly ten o'clock that night. Aya was curled on the couch she'd had Ran move the night before, an impish smile on her face.

"How'd it go?" she asked. Ran had seen Hana off at her car in the driveway, and was looking forward to just going to bed. Aya, of course, was going to have none of that.

"It was a lot of fun," he said simply, hoping she'd leave it at that. If there was one thing he'd learned about his sister, however, was that she never left anything alone, particularly if it was his business.

"Were the two of you out all day? What did you do? Everything? You need to leave stuff to do for the second date, you know," she admonished.

Ran gave her a tired look. "How do you know there'll even be a second date?" Aya fixed him with a more moderate version of what everyone had dubbed his "Famous Fujimiya Glare".

"Ran, I woke you up at five thirty this morning. That means that you've been out doing stuff with Hana since six o'clock. It's now ten thirty. People planning on having just one date don't spend all day with one another that way. One date wonders include a tense dinner, and walking home rather than get into the car with someone, and walking out of movies, that sort of thing. She can have you on Thursday, tomorrow I'm taking my big brother out to the zoo. You might even find some more friends there," she teased. He absently chucked one of the free cushions on the love seat at her, which she shriekingly deflected.

---

"Aya, I've been meaning to talk to you about Omi." Ran said. True to her word, she'd taken him to the zoo, although she'd had to leave the room when one of the animal handlers took out a large tarantula from a cage.

"Omi? What about him?" She sipped delicately on her drink, and Ran reflected on how strange it was to see his baby sister drinking alcohol. Legally.

"He's been really weighted down lately. You remember Schwarz?" Aya shuddered. She'd heard horror stories about the psychic team practically since waking up. "Well... Yohji got involved with one of them. I don't even know how it started."

"Is Yohji ... okay?" she asked hesitantly. Ran nodded.

"It's completely his decision. Schuldig can't do things like that. And the scary part is... he seems happy with it." Aya frowned.

"Why is that scary, though?" she wondered. Ran sighed.

"He's sleeping with Farfarello." Her mouth fell open, and the straw dropped back into her violent green drink.

"The white-haired one?" she asked. He nodded, thinking about the unlikelyhood of that couple. "I suppose... he's not bad looking," Aya ventured. Ran shot her a dark look.

"Please don't ever think about Farfarello like that again," he asked, only half-joking.

She smiled. "Well, Schuldig's not really my type, and Crawford's too old, but Nagi's really cute, too. And he's talented, as well. I bet he could rearrange my furniture."

"That's not fair, Aya-chan, comparing me with someone who knocked down a mansion with his mind!" Actually, now that he'd thought about it, Aya always asked about the littlest Schwarz. "You don't-" he asked horrified, and she shook her head.

"He's gay. He's gayer than Ken-san is, actually." Their number was called, and he stood to collect their food, wondering about what she'd just said. Ken was gay? Nagi was gay?

"Alright," he said, setting her plate in front of her. "I'll bite. How is Nagi gayer than Ken? And since when was Ken gay, anyway?"

Aya looked at him sadly. "You mean you don't know?"

"Know what?" Ran asked, exasperated. "If I knew, I wouldn't have to ask, now would I?"

"Well, Ken's a top." she said frankly. "He's obviously the dominant one in his relationship."

"Ken doesn't have a relationship," Ran reminded her. Aya clucked her tongue at him.

"He's dating a little foreign boy named.. Jay... Jason, that's it. Jason Whatts. Ask Omi, he knows. Actually, Omi might be jealous."

"My team-mates aren't gay," Ran argued. "I think I'd know if they were."

"Well, just because they haven't come after you. I always thought of Yohji-san as being bisexual, myself. Didn't you tell me he always went after girls? Or maybe he's just severely in the closet."

"I can't believe I'm hearing my sister say these things so bluntly," Ran said, pressing a hand to his forehead.

"It's nothing bad," she argued. "I don't care that they're gay. I'm bisexual too,"

Ran choked on his drink. "What?" he wheezed, and she giggled.

"Bi-curious," she amended. "I haven't met any guys that I liked, and Hana's got a friend... At least if I get a girlfriend, I won't get pregnant."

Three things occurred simultaneously to Ran: one, his little sister was probably having sex, two, his little sister had thought about pregnancy, and three, his little sister wasn't so little any more after all.

"Can we talk about something else?" he asked weakly, and Aya smiled brightly, pleased with his reaction.

"Hana-chan was asking about you this morning. I told her you'd see her tomorrow, is that alright?"

He was being managed, he realized. Aya was treating him as though he were the younger sibling, and at times, he felt like it. She was more world-wise and open. She had a life, and friends, and he spent his time holed up in the flower shop.

"Aya," he said suddenly. She looked alert. "I'm going to be finding a place down here, and leaving the Weiss."

"Ran.." she breathed, and suddenly he found himself with an armful of Aya-chan as she squeezed the breath out of him. "I'm so happy!"

---

Omi flopped down into the semi-comfortable reading chair in the corner of the library, and reached for his book. He'd come here as a last resort - the resounding emptiness of the shop and apartments made him uncomfortable, especially when he was used to the buzz of customers, the shouts of his team-mates.

Everywhere else he'd gone had reminded him of them - the bar reminded him of Yohji, and the field and park reminded him of Ken. He'd even seen Aya's white car everywhere he'd gone, and hadn't been able to escape the awful feeling of his team breaking apart.

He'd finished the first novel, and was reaching for the second in the series when he felt himself paralyzed and pushed into the chair by an unseen force. A blur of colour passed him, and settled in the chair across the small table.

"You," he whispered, recognizing the telekinetic of Schwarz.

"Me," the other boy replied. "Sorry for squishing you. I want your company without you trying to kill me or running away. Unless you're too nervous to stay here beside me, of course, and then I won't stop you."

Omi heard the veiled challenge as clearly as if it had been tossed down at his feet like a glove. He didn't want anything to do with any members of the other team, but after a statement like that, he wasn't going to leave.

Besides, this was his only retreat, and if he'd been driven out of this place as well, he'd probably end up throwing himself off a bridge.

To his complete surprise, the telekinetic seemed content to do exactly as he said. Have Omi's company while he read. Actually, Omi realized upon closer inspection, he appeared to be writing a paper.

The blond hacker split his attention between the book he was trying to read, and his deadly enemy sitting less than five feet away from him. The force pressing him into the chair had subsided as soon as the telekinetic had sat down, but Omi was certain that if he broke whatever truce had just been offered, the other boy wouldn't hesitate to use it on him.

Gradually, his book arrested more and more of his attention, until he forgot about the psychic entirely.

---
(These are posted separately because they're not chapters in the same story, but they're not exactly stand-alones because you need to read the previous ones to understand the whole story. It's a series of one-shots.)
NightWriter: When you post your story, let me know! I'd love to read it~