Return To Me

Yohji felt that something was wrong and he tried to force himself back to full awareness while surrounded by pitch blackness. He attempted to focus on the last thing he remembered but it was so hard, as if trying to see through a cloud. He pushed past the slight headache and fuzziness to recall sitting at the restaurant while waiting for Aya when, suddenly, *she* appeared at his table.

He became fully aware with a start and tried to sit up only to bump his head. Yohji quickly realized that his hands seemed to be cuffed behind his back while cursing himself for being ten times a fool. He’d always been a sucker for a damsel in distress; since he’d known this particular ‘damsel’, he hadn’t thought once to be on guard.

Now he knew for sure who had been behind the attempts on his life, but couldn’t fathom a reason for them. He’d known Sakura for years she’d been just one girl in part of a large fan club with a crush on Aya. Why she was trying to kill Yohji was a mystery. When she’d appeared at his table distressed because of a flat tire, he never even considered what a coincidence it was that they’d run into each other. He followed her out to the car where she had the trunk open to get at the spare. As he leaned in to get the tire and jack, he felt a sting in his neck then nothing at all.

From the feel of his cramped and uncomfortable position, he surmised that he was in the trunk of her car. Why she hadn’t just killed him when she’d had the chance, he didn’t know. Hopefully she’d return soon and he’d get some answers, or at least a chance to get out of this mess. Aya was going to kill him for sure this time. That was, if Sakura didn’t beat him to it.

Yohji didn’t know how long he lay there trying to figure out how to get out of the situation, when he heard the trunk release before being blinded for a few minutes by light. When he could finally focus his eyes, he saw Sakura standing several feet away with a gun pointed at him.

“Get out.” Sakura motioned with the gun for him to move.

“Kinda hard for me to manage with my arms behind my back,” he said, a bit hopeful that she’d undo the cuffs.

“You’ll manage.”

He grunted and glared at her. When had she turned into such a bitch? It took a lot of work but finally he managed to get out. His ribs were aching and he was a bit out of breath from the effort and pain, but he’d been through worse in his career.

“Now what?” he asked as he glanced around him. They were in some type of warehouse or storage facility.

Sakura backed away from him and pointed to a seat a few feet away. “Sit down.”

“You could ask me nicely, you know,” he grumbled as he went to follow her orders.

“And why should I treat you nicely with what you’ve done to me?”

Yohji sat down and stared at the young woman incredulously. “What the hell have I ever done to you?”

Sakura’s mouth turned into a sneer as she scoffed. “Don’t act as if you don’t know. You stole my lover from me!”

His mouth dropped open in surprise as he forgot all about trying to get free of the cuffs. He stared at her in amazement then asked, “What in the hell are you talking about?”

“Ran. You stole him from me,” Sakura yelled. Yohji could only shake his head, the girl was definitely unstable. Wonder if what that German bastard Schuldig did to her messing around in her head had shook something loose all those years ago or what. Oh great, he had an insane, jealous woman brandishing a gun his way and thinking that he’d wronged her. He would take Aya wielding his sword at him any day over a hormonal woman with a gun. He definitely should have never left his bed that morning.

********

Aya arrived at Yohji’s apartment and rushed to change his clothes. For some reason he’d brought his old mission clothes along with him on this trip. After he’d put on the all black ensemble, he tucked his gun into the shoulder holster instead of his katana, since that was back in England. It would have been too much trouble to get it on the plane and he wasn’t about to check it in baggage.

Next he grabbed the GPS tracker for the tracer he’d slipped inside Yohji’s watch last week when his lover had been acting as bait. For some reason he’d forgotten to take it out. Turning it on, Aya could see that Yohji was still moving and appeared to be headed to the outskirts of Tokyo. He made sure he had his rental car keys then headed out to rescue his lover.

The drive was long, but he was gaining on them with every kilometer. Yohji’s position had not changed in the past ten minutes so it appeared as if they’d reached their destination just outside of Tokyo in an industrial section near some railroad tracks.

While he drove to the location, Aya thought about his assumption of who the perpetrator behind all the attempts on Yohji’s life, along with the recent abduction, might be. He couldn’t for the life of him figure out why Sakura of all people would want to hurt, much less kiil, Yohji. Aya refused to think of his lover as anything but unharmed. He didn’t believe that he could survive losing Yohji after just getting him back again.

It seemed an eternity before Aya arrived at the location, where he slowly circled the property until he finally spotted a lit building. Parking well away from his destination, he made sure the car was hidden from casual view. He carefully made his way to the structure, watching to see if there was anyone else outside. When it appeared that it was an abandoned property, he hurried to the warehouse.

Aya found an open window opposite from the place where the light was shining. He carefully climbed inside and was immediately relived to hear Yohji’s voice. “What in the hell are you talking about?”

“Ran. You stole him from me,” Sakura yelled in response as Aya crept toward the voices.

“I didn’t steal him from you, you ne-…”

“Yes you did! I saw you together in Kyoto. Aya asked me to go with her to search for her brother and when we split up to try and locate him. That’s when I saw you two together. You were kissing and then went into a love hotel,” Sakura yelled accusingly. Aya could see that she was agitated and gesturing wildly with the gun still aimed at Yohji.

Yohji tried to explain, “But he was never yours, I didn’t steal him.”

“Yes you did! Why else would he tell me what his real name was if he didn’t love me? He would have come back to me if you hadn’t interfered.”

“Then why did you try to kill me? Ay-Ran had left Japan. We weren’t together anymore.” It seemed that Yohji was trying to figure out her thought process. This *was* a woman, Aya thought to himself, maybe he shouldn’t even try.

“Because I couldn’t locate his whereabouts. I knew that if something happened to you, he’d come to your funeral.” Sakura said as if it was a certainty, but Aya knew that she spoke the truth. He would have come back, if only to confirm that Yohji was really lost to him for all time. The thought of Yohji being dead caused a pain so sharp in his chest, he almost gasped. “But you seem to have nine lives and each time I thought you were taken care of, you managed to survive. I was about to send another person after you when I found out that Ran was seen leaving your apartment building with you. I couldn’t believe it. All the attempts on your life did was reunite the two of you. Not for long, though. I’m going to prove to him that he loves me and not you. You’re going to call him here.”

Aya watched as Yohji shook his head. “No fucking way.”

“Yes, you will or I’ll kill you now.” Sakura aimed the gun at Yohji’s head.

Yohji glared at the woman and didn’t say a word. Aya watched Sakura raise her arm as if to pistol whip Yohji when he pulled his own gun and yelled, “Stop!”

“Who’s there?” Sakura screeched and ran to stand behind Yohji, pressing the gun to the side of his head. Aya cursed himself for being so careless. He was a skilled assassin but when it came to Yohji, he reverted to a bumbling fool.

“Come out or I’ll shoot him.” Sakura pressed the gun harder into Yohji’s temple.

Aya came out of the shadows, his gun trained on Sakura. “Let him go, Sakura-chan. This doesn’t concern him.”

“Yes it does,” she shrieked, sounding utterly insane. “He stole you from me.” Aya saw Yohji wince when she jammed the gun harder into his temple.

“How can you say that? You never had me,” Aya said in a totally emotionless voice. He had no feelings whatsoever for this woman who was threatening his lover. The thankfulness he'd once felt for what she’d done for Aya-chan had been more than eradicated by her recent actions and he continued coldly, “And if I’d ever had any feelings for you, they would have been destroyed by your recent acts of murder.”

“*I* didn’t kill anyone. You’re the one who is a murderer, but I still love you anyway,” Sakura began in a bitchy tone then ended on a pleading note.

“You don’t know the meaning of love. You are responsible for the slaughter of innocents. I may be an assassin with blood on my hands, but those people deserved their demise. What you did was arrange deaths to get what you selfishly wanted, and even then it did you no good. I. Do. Not. Love. You,” Aya said each word slowly and distinctly.

The gun wavered in Sakura’s hand and Aya flicked his eyes to Yohji briefly, thankful that the blond understood his cue. Yohji tipped his chair backwards and when he was no longer in danger from the gun Sakura held, Aya immediately raised his own and fired.

Silence filled the warehouse for several moments before it was broken with curses. “God dammit, Aya, help me out from under this mess,” Yohji yelled.

Sakura had fallen on top of Yohji when she had been shot, so Aya hurried over to make sure his aim had been true before going to help his lover. He gave Yohji a cold look when he pulled the dead woman off of the idiot.

“Well, if you weren’t such a gullible fool when it came to women, you wouldn’t be in this mess now, would you?” He couldn’t help it. He was angry at Yohji for not being more careful. “What the hell do I have to do? Lock you up?”

“I’m sorry, Aya,” Yohji said quietly. “I fucked up.”

Aya noticed that Yohji looked at Sakura sadly and it finally hit home to him that he’d actually killed Sakura-chan. As he got Yohji free, he thought how he’d killed the young woman who he’d felt some odd fondness and sympathy for at one time.

Helping Yohji up from the floor, he noticed his lover was covered in blood. Looking around, he spotted a blanket in the trunk of Sakura’s car and handed it to Yohji. “You better cover yourself until we can get you to your apartment to clean up.”

It was a quiet drive back to Yohji’s place, each man lost in his thoughts. Aya followed Yohji up the stairs and into the apartment, but stayed in the living room when Yohji went to shower. He put in a call to Mamoru for a clean-up team to be sent out to the warehouse and while he was on hold, Aya gazed out the window wondering what he’d done so very wrong in his short life to always have to resort to killing.

*********

Yohji came out of the bathroom, dressed only in his jeans while toweling his hair. He frowned when he entered the living room to find it empty. He noticed Aya’s gun and keys on the end table and tried to figure out where his brooding lover would have gone. A thought occurred to him and he quickly raised his eyes to the ceiling before leaving his apartment, making sure the door was unlocked.

Opening the door to the rooftop, he saw a silhouette against the night sky. Of course this is where Aya would head to. He’d always liked to brood on the roof of the Koneko years back. Yohji walked quietly over to his lover and even though Aya never turned around, Aya knew he was there.

Yohji wrapped his arms around Aya’s waist, looking out over the twilight. He felt his lover relax ever so slightly into the embrace and took that as a positive sign. Nuzzling Aya’s neck, Yohji murmured, “There was nothing else you could have done. Kritiker would have sent someone after her if you had let her live.”

Aya remained silent but leaned a bit more against him. He knew that Aya was really hurting over Sakura’s death and said quietly, “I’m sorry.”

“Why are you sorry, Yohji? Except for being an idiot and falling into her trap, you didn’t do anything wrong.” Aya gave a sad sigh.

“I’m sorry that you had to be the one - that in order to save me, it was your hand that ended her life. For that, I’m sorry.” Yohji kissed Aya’s neck again then began to remove the heavy leather from Aya’s shoulders as he wrapped an arm around Aya’s chest. It was a warm spring night and Yohji needed to touch Aya... to reassure his lover.

Aya didn’t assist, but he didn’t hinder Yohji either. Yohji pulled Aya’s coat away from him, fumbling in Aya’s pockets until he found some antibiotic cream Aya always kept there for emergencies. Yohji spread the coat out on the ground, tossed the tube on the coat, then walked around to face Aya. He leaned in for a deep kiss, full of all the love he had for Aya as he tugged off Aya’s gloves, casting them aside.

“Yohji, not here...” Aya said, but Yohji silenced him with another kiss as he pushed his hips against Aya’s. There was an answering hardness there so he continued. If Aya hadn’t been in the mood, he would have pulled back, but with the way Aya was suddenly kissing him, Yohji knew that Aya needed this.

They had to part when Yohji tugged Aya’s shirt over his head, after unfastening the buckles, but they soon resumed the lip play while their hands scrambled to push their pants off each other. Yohji stepped out of his jeans then lowered Aya to the coat, kneeling at Aya’s feet to remove his boots, socks and pants. He then kissed his way slowly up Aya’s body, caressing pale skin as he moved upward. Yohji savored the soft gasps and quiet moans that his lover emitted.

Finally reaching Aya’s mouth again, they were both hard and panting for breath. Their tongues did battle and Aya gripped Yohji’s hair tightly, as if to not let him break off the kiss. Yohji tweaked Aya’s nipples then wrapped a hand around Aya’s cock, stroking him while swiping his thumb over the leaking slit.

Yohji fumbled for the tube beside him and finally managed to get the top off. Aya released the death grip on his hair and caressed Yohji’s shoulders, nails scratching slightly when Yohji pressed two slick fingers against his hole. Aya rocked his hips back to meet Yohji’s fingers and said, half order, half pleading, “Don’t take too long.”

Nodding his agreement, Yohji slid a third finger inside to stretch Aya while trying to slick his own cock at the same time. Many years of practice made it mostly doable, a bit of the salve getting on the lining of Aya’s coat. He knew he’d be having it dry-cleaned the next day.

“Now, Yohji!” Aya demanded. The man was extremely good at topping from the bottom, Yohji thought as he pressed the head of his cock to Aya’s entrance. He slowly pushed in until the head breached the tight muscles, pausing when they both groaned. Taking a deep breath to calm himself, he continued to move forward until their hips met.

Yohji threaded his hands in Aya’s hair, looking down at him while they were connected so intimately and said softly, “I love you, Aya. I always have and I always will.” As if to seal that vow, he lowered his mouth to Aya’s and kissed him deeply while rocking his hips back and forth into Aya’s willing body.

One of Aya’s arms wrapped around his neck and the other dug sharp fingernails into his ass. Even with the slight pain, Yohji’s pace never faltered. Again and again he plunged into that tight heat, the pace getting faster. Aya ripped his mouth away to gasp when Yohji angled his hips just so.

From then on, there was less thought and more pleasure as instinct took over. Yohji curled over Aya’s body so he could wrap his hand around the erection trapped between them, stroking quickly and a bit disjointedly as they both came closer to completion. A light sheen of sweat covered their bodies, making them seem to glow in the dim light, their movements reaching a crescendo. Two cries mingling as one filled the night sky before only the sound of harsh breathing could be heard.

Shivering a bit when a breeze ghosted over his body, Yohji raised his head and kissed Aya. It was a gentle kiss compared to the passion of before but all that much sweeter for the love that filled it. Yohji lifted his head and brushed Aya’s hair back to gaze down at the lovely face beneath him. “How about we head downstairs to a comfortable bed?”

Aya poked Yohji painfully in the side. “I was trying to get you to do that before,” he grumbled.

Yohji leaned down to nip at his lover’s pouting lips. “Then I couldn’t have made love to you under the stars.”

“Idiot,” Aya said with no real heat as he tugged on Yohji’s hair then pulled him close. Neither of them seemed in a hurry to move.

They lay like that for a little while and then Yohji’s stomach growled, their aborted dinner plans finally catching up with him. He slowly got up and held out a hand to Aya. “Come on, let’s go clean up and I’ll order in some take out. How does that sound?”

Aya gave Yohji a slight smile as he nodded agreement. “I didn’t feel like going anywhere again tonight.” He grimaced when he touched his stomach. “I need a shower.”

Yohji tugged his jeans on and watched Aya pick up his coat, frowning at the stains. “Yeah, yeah, I’ll get it dry-cleaned tomorrow.”

“Hmph. You better.” Aya wrapped the coat around him and gathered up the rest of his things, not bothering to dress for the short trip down the stairs.

Yohji shook his head as he trailed behind Aya. As if the man wasn’t just as much responsible for the mess on the coat as Yohji. But if he’d learned anything over the years, it was which battles were worth fighting and which weren’t.