As You See Me.. (9).
Disclaimer: Same as in previous
Pairing: Yohji x Aya/Ran
Warnings: Yaoi, Shounen-ai, Violence, Angst, Language, AU
It had been a week since that day. A week since Schuldig made his threat. Yohji looked down at the sweet redheaded youth in his arms. He had the sheet pulled up to his waist, leaving his pale chest open to the fresh air. The musician could see the tiny marks of his claiming on that creamy skin. For a split second, it was pulled from his vision, replaced by an illusion of his Ran covered in blood.
The very idea pushed Yohji out of bed and he made his way to the window with a pack of cigarettes. Putting one to his lips, he struck a match so that he wouldn't wake his young lover. His past was catching up to him in a very nasty way.
'Damn you, Schuldig… Why can't I be happy? Why do you always have to fuck it up?'
The moon hung out over the ocean, a sliver of silver in the velvet curtain of darkness. Yohji had always loved looking at it in the past. Tonight, though, he couldn't appreciate it. It had been this way for the last week. Every night since he'd gotten that damn manila envelope.
He could have taken it to the police, he supposed, but that wouldn't have gotten good results. They would have assumed that the man stalking Yohji Kudou's lover was just a rabid, obsessed fan. That was not what was needed to finish this.
His emerald gaze flicked over to the redhead, sprawled out on his bed, looking for all the world like he didn't have a care. The singer wanted to keep it that way. He didn't want the shadows of his past taking away that beauty… that renewed lust for living that Yohji had carefully nurtured back to life. A month's work in the trash if Schuldig had his way.
A cut-off yelp snapped the blond out of his contemplations. He went immediately on the alert, flicking the half smoked cigarette through the window and turning to the drawers next to him. The top one opened silently and he took out his gloves and a pair of watches. Yohji put them on and gave each glove a good tug to make sure it was tight.
'I don't know who you are, but you won't leave alive…'
As silent as his own ghosts, Yohji slipped out of the room and down the stairs. He hugged the wall as he went, knowing his house like he knew his music. If one kept to the middle, the wood would groan like nobody's business. He wouldn't give the bastard the chance to detect him if he could help it.
On the way down, he strung out the hidden wire between his hands, the ring looped over his left middle finger, ready to bite into soft flesh. He wouldn't let anyone get to Ran… not while there was still breath in his body and fight in his spirit. Yohji's eyes were already accustomed to the velvet dark that pervaded the house. He got to the lower landing and took a quick look around.
Nothing in the main room.
The singer slipped from shadow to shadow in the lower floor's halls, eyes and ears alert for anything. He knew that someone was there. Yohji was like a cat after prey, primed for the spring of attack. As he neared the room where his precious piano was kept, he heard the scuff of a shoe and a soft curse.
That was the sound walking dead men usually made just before their demise.
Yohji stood still next to the doorway, waiting. Finally, his intended target came through and he looped the wire around the man's neck. To add to this, he kicked the intruder's support leg out from underneath him, making sure to choke him quickly. Who knew how many of these bastards there were in his house? He followed the dying form to the ground, making little noise, but still more sounds than the singer wanted.
The man flailed in his dying throes and then went still. 'One down… God knows how many left.'
He rose, turning, and found himself staring down the barrel of a gun. The face behind it was shadowed, dark, unseen. Just another nameless thug. Yohji put his hands over his head, as if in surrender, pressing a button on the second watch. The wire spool hidden within started to unwind soundlessly.
"Who sent you," he hissed, covering up the noise that his thin death made as it rebounded several times around the figure before him. He kept alert for the slight noise that said his invisible cage was anchored.
*Zinkt*
The man before him wasn't nearly as quiet, "I think you know who hired us, Balines."
That cinched it for Yohji and he pulled his left arm down enough to tighten the cord, "Wasn't sure, but you just clued me in… Thanks." Throwing himself to the side, he kicked the man backwards, "You should have said no."
The gun gave a silenced bark.
Something snapped Ran out of his sweet dream. In it, he and Yohji were quietly enjoying time at the ocean, sharing verbal exchanges of love and forever. However, upon waking, he had a sickening feeling in his gut. He got out of the bed and rose to silent feet. He'd gotten lots of practice at that on the streets, while dodging thugs, cops, and rivals.
He started to go through the door when something out of the corner of his eye drew his attention. It was a katana. Ran moved over to it and pulled it down from the wall. It looked authentic… Quietly, he drew a few inches of the blade and put his thumb against the edge, causing a thin line of blood to well up along his thumb pad.
The blade was true.
He didn't pause to think, just took it with him. Something wasn't right and he was going to find out what. Carefully, he moved down the stairs, violet eyes wary for anything out of the ordinary. Ran couldn't quite put his finger on the nagging in the back of his mind. He knew… KNEW that this had something to do with the manila envelope that Yohji had hidden from him earlier this week.
Ran's bare feet brushed over the cold tiles of the kitchen floor and he paused. There was a scent in the air that made his stomach turn. Little by little, he moved forward. Little by little, he surveyed the room. Then, the ball of his foot stepped in something that was cooling rapidly. Something thick and wet.
He looked down and stifled a cry when he saw Orion laying on the floor, the dark flow around the Chow staining his fur a deeper crimson.
Rising to his feet after making sure the thug was dead, Yohji started moving again. He could tell that there was still at least one more intruder in his home. By God, they weren't getting upstairs if he could stop them. He stretched the wire between his hands, ready to loop it around the next ruthless bastard who was not readily recognizable as a friend.
It was almost like a deadlier version of 'cat and mouse' to him. Only, this time, he wasn't sure exactly who was the cat and who was the mouse. Yohji edged from room to room, alert for anything that wasn't supposed to be there. Alert for anything that might hurt his Ran.
"Stop right there," came a soft-spoken feminine voice.
Yohji complied as he heard the click of a gun being cocked. 'SHIT!' Slowly, he turned around to see the new face. He glared at her long and hard, "I'll fucking kill you…"
She didn't flinch, "Take off your watches." Obviously, *someone* had done her homework…
'FUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCK…'
Yohji obeyed, tossing the timepieces over his shoulder at her silent insistence. He glared at her, "Why are you here?"
She smiled at him, a decidedly cold and unfriendly smile, "To get the redhead… Got any objections?"
"Of course I do…" He had to keep her talking. Yohji had to get her to let down that tight guard so he could stop her. Thinking fast, he decided on a lie, "He's not here anyway."
"Bullshit. We saw him come in with you," she grinned and reset her target aim, "Care to try again?"
"I'm not going to let Schu get away with this again," Yohji ground out, his green eyes narrowing, "I *will* kill him over-"
"Oh, shut the fuck up, will ya," the woman bit out irritably. Her free hand rose to her ear, where she obviously had a comm unit, "I've got Balines… What about the kitty's mate?"
Yohji could just barely hear it, "His little fucktoy isn't in the bed." Okay, so there were TWO more people in his house… both with guns… both going after his Ran. The disembodied voice continued, "But he was here. I'm going to search the floor. You declaw the cat while I do."
The female before him smirked, "I've already pulled his claws, love… All he's got now are an unimpressive set of fangs…" She looked at him, "Although, you really should see him before I really get to work. He's pretty to look at."
Her partner's voice spoke up, "I've seen his pics a hundred or more times. Personally, I'm sick of looking at him. Do your job and we can get out of here once I get my hands on his boytoy."
The breeze started to pick up, billowing out the curtains of the lower floor. Yohji smiled. It would be the perfect cover for him to get away if he could just get her distracted. His mind sorted through different ideas when something in the gauzy material behind the woman caught his eye. There was an arc of a silvery flash and then she fell, a look of surprise on her face.
Yohji couldn't hide his shock when he found himself staring his lover in the face, "Ran?"
"What," the youth whispered, wiping the blade and sheathing it. He looked up at the blond singer, "Oh! I… well… My father insisted while he was alive… I kept going back to my sensei after… you know… I hadn't been in the last six months though. Ryo flat out fought me over it."
Shooting forward quickly, Yohji engulfed the youth in a tight hug, "I'm so sorry…"
Ran let himself be held, "What the fuck's going on, Yohji?" He was too high-strung at the moment to really appreciate the hug.
"You've got to get out of here, Ran," Yohji whispered into his hair, the long arms tightening a bit. He was reluctant to let the redhead go, but knew that they weren't out of danger yet. He finally did let go and knelt down to retrieve his weapons, "There's still one more of them here."
"I want some answers," the younger man growled, "I think I deserve to at least know what's going on."
Yohji nodded, "Fine, but you can have them later." He pushed past the young redhead as he saw the last attacker dart by a window, "Fucking bastard!" The blond dove through the opening, tucking and rolling as he landed, then rising back to his feet.
He heard a growl off to the side and dared a glance. Suddenly, Artemis came barreling out of the doggie-door and into the intruder's legs, bringing him down as surely as if he'd been hit by a car. The female Chow was on him then, snarling and biting at his arms and neck. Yohji skidded to a stop and simply watched the canine as she continued to maul the man.
Ran came up next to him, "Aren't you going to stop her?"
"Nah," the singer said as he pulled a cigarette from his open shirt's front pocket, "She's getting revenge… Since I haven't seen Orion, I'm guessing they got him."
"Yeah…" The redhead's voice softened with a note of sadness, "I'm going to miss him."
Yohji put an arm around his shoulders, "I will too… He was one of a kind, that was certain." The blond finally gave a shrill whistle, "Artemis! Stand down!"
The dog did as commanded, moving to the couple's feet obediently. As Ran reached down to stroke her head, Yohji moved towards the downed man cautiously. He kicked the gun away and then used the same foot to roll him over, "I've got a message I want you to send back to Schuldig."
"Fuck you!" The would be kidnapper spat at the singer, earning him a blow to the ribs as a reward.
Kneeling down, the blond smiled ruthlessly, "You go back and tell that piece of psycho-shit that I'll die before I let him hurt Ran. If I have to kill him to get that point across…" Yohji leaned even closer, letting the moonlight cast a sinister shadow over his face, "I will."
Both men watched as the injured figure staggered off of the property. Ran finally looked at his lover with suspicious eyes, "Okay… What's going on?"
Yohji ran a hand through his slightly tangled locks, "Let's go inside first. You're either going to need coffee or a stiff drink before this story's over…"