Red Shaman

Tazzy: Thanks as always for the review. I'm very happy that you're still reading and enjoying.

To everyone else still reading, thank you.



*********



I knew right from the beginning

That you would end up winning

Round and round

Well, love will find a way just give it time.





Bradley T. Crawford, evil bastard king of demons, total badass fighter, leader of one of the most elite assassin teams in the world, stood in the middle of the Red Shaman living room as though he were on stage. It had all started innocently enough. He had come into the living room with his coffee and newspaper. Had been tempted to leave due to the fact that Schuldig, as usual, seemed joined to Skye's hip. When Star had caught his eye and smiled. He had snapped to attention, dropping both the coffee and the paper. From that point on he had begun reeling off childhood embarrassments and horrors at an alarming rate. Beginning with the failed experiment with the cocoa-puffs.



Everyone in the room watched the spectacle before them in fascinated horror. Crawford continued to recount every little oddity that had happened in his early years in great detail while his eyes got wider with each syllable. He couldn't seem to stop himself until he got to the point of telling everyone about selling his sister's underwear for twenty dollars to a friend when he was twelve. He seemed to snap out of it for a moment. In that rare point of lucidity he grabbed Schuldig off the couch and pulled him out of the room. Leaving everyone to stare after them in wonder.



The look on Aya's face was nothing short of priceless as Star turned and focused on him. His eyes widened almost comically. The air of cool detachment he usually wore was traded for one of panic. He grabbed Yohji by the hand and made an attempt to drag him out of the room as well.



“What the hell are you doing, Aya?” Yohji protested, digging in his heels and refusing to move.



“Preserving my dignity,” Aya said.



“Huh?”



Aya growled and unceremoniously picked Yohji up and tossed him over one shoulder. Any protest Yohji might have made was cut short due to the fact he'd had the air knocked out of him by Aya's shoulder suddenly impacting his stomach.



Sunny and Skye both looked at Star.



“What did you do?”



Star smirked.



“I just thought I'd help things along a little bit.”



The consequent “Are you out of your mind!” a few minutes later had timed so that it perfectly echoed. First from Schuldig then from Yohji. There was quiet for another minute or so before they all heard, “Just get the fuck away from me.” Schuldig's voice.



“Shit. That is not a good sign,” Star said.



“What was your first clue?” Skye said, getting up from the couch and heading toward the garden where she knew she'd find Schuldig.



“No, you take Oracle, I'll take Schuldig this time,” Star said.



“You have officially lost your mind. He probably wants to kill me at this point.”



“Yeah, well, he *definitely* wants to kill me at this point. So you're safer with him,” Star said walking past her.



“Since you insist,” throwing up her hands and following her sister out of the room.



Sunny sat staring after them for a minute. His mind was working furiously. Several things clicking and falling into place all at once. His lips quirked up slightly as slow dawning came upon him.



“Gotcha now, love.”









Yohji glared at Aya's back. From the position he was in that was about all he could do. Aya had effectively knocked the wind out of him enough he wasn't inclined to argue at that particular moment.



Meanwhile, Aya's mind was working ninety miles per millisecond trying to figure out how to tell Yohji what he needed to now that he had him. He felt worse than he had when he'd swallowed Aya-chan's goldfish. His stomach definitely felt like something was alive in it and wanting out.



How was he supposed to do this? He'd never told anyone he loved them in his life except for Aya-chan and their parents. He had no idea if Yohji wanted a moonlight and roses kind of thing or what. Hell, he'd never really seen two men in a relationship like he wanted his and Yohji's to be.



He paused for a moment as something processed in the back of his mind and was suddenly brought to the forefront. He had seen two men involved in a relationship that was loving and evidently rock solid. Two almost completely opposite men, no less. He'd seen them do the ridiculous snuggle thing on the couch and he'd seen them stand toe to toe and nearly scream the house down around them. He'd seen one carry the other to bed when he'd fallen asleep doing too much paperwork. He'd seen them fight over who paid the check and whose turn it was to go get Goddess when she'd been gone from them for too long. He'd seen them laugh over being over worked and blown up. He'd seen them joke about the fact that their marriage was even more out of the norm than anyone could have dreamed. He'd seen them watch each other with a kind of reverence, almost as though one couldn't quite believe the other was real. He'd seen them do the little things that made up what love really was on a daily basis. He wanted something like that for Yohji and himself.



He was snapped back to reality when Yohji hit him in the back and practically screamed “Are you out of your mind?” in his ear. For some reason that phrase had seemed to be an echo. He set Yohji gently on the floor.



“Probably.”



“Okay, what the hell are you on and does it require rehab?” Yohji asked.



“Not that I know of,” Aya said. Now that is was almost down to the moment he wasn't sure how to go about doing this. At least not in such a fashion that wouldn't guarantee to get him strung up on Yohji's wire at any rate.



Yohji blinked rapidly when he realized something quite astounding. Aya looked scared. Not mildly unnerved as he sometimes did when they were going into a particularly bad situation. But gut wrenching and mind numbing terrified.



“I need to talk to you, Yohji,” Aya said quietly.



Another first. It was almost unheard of for Aya to call him by his given name. Yohji looked at him expectantly.



Aya opened his mouth and then closed it again. That happened several times, in fact. After a minute or so of this Yohji started looking around the room. Behind furniture and plants. Checking under cushions.



“What the hell are you doing?” Aya asked.



Yohji looked around the large potted plant he had been examining. “Checking for pods.”



“Checking for . . . Why?”



“Because obviously, you are not really Aya.”



“Wha . . .”



“Aya is never uncertain about anything. He's never at a loss for words and always says exactly what he means without fail. Therefore, if you are struggling to find the words to tell me something, you are not really Aya,” Yohji explained and continued to look for pods.



“Of all the ridiculous, idiotic notions . . .”



“There you are.”



“Kudoh, have you lost what little there is of your mind?” Aya snapped.



“See what I mean. Evidently you are back to being the real Aya again because you called me Kudoh and insulted me. So it's obvious you were only a temporary pod person after all and the real Aya was in there somewhere it just took a little bit of prodding to . . .”



“Kudoh, will you shut the hell up rambling and let me tell you I'm in love with you.”



Yohji dropped the cushion he'd been holding and stared at him.



“I realized it after you and I were together. I . . . couldn't really look at myself in the mirror because I felt like I'd used you. I couldn't process why for a while so I avoided you. Tried to rather, you're really persistent. I'd always known there was something between us aside from a working relationship or even a friendship. But I couldn't put a name to it . . .”



“Aya . . .”



“Then there was that conversation I had with Goddess. Which kind of helped me get over the nervous part of it but not really and . . .”



“Aya . . .”



“Then I started thinking about how Tatsumi and Watari are with each other and I know that's the kind of relationship I want for us . . .”



“AYA . . .”



“Then Star whammied me with that little threat. It actually was more like a promise than a threat considering what just happened to . . .”



“RAN!”



Aya looked up from his ramble to see Yohji had moved to stand in front of him. Yohji had slid both arms around his waist without him noticing and Aya automatically put his hands on the other man's shoulders.



“Yes?” he said looking at him. Somewhat startled.



“Shut up and kiss me.”