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Mine Fields	By : psyca Category: Weiß Kreuz > Yaoi - Male/Male Views: 2744 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Weiß Kreuz, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

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Mine Fields

Yohji finished ringing up the last in a long string of schoolgirls frequenting the flowershop. He watched her leave, flouncing out with a bundle of flowers bouncing in her arms. Thankful for a moment's reprieve, he stretched long arms overhead, his tight shirt rising above the waist of his black jeans. He groaned in appreciation at the light pops in his back. As he lowered his arms he glanced sidelong at the other occupant of the shop.

Yep. Aya was still ignoring him.

There were several categories of silence that Yohji had observed in his friend and teammate over the time they had lived together. There was the companionable silence when they were relaxing by the television or in the kitchen, everyone lost in a book or program but not wanting to be alone. There was mission silence, full of anticipation and adrenaline that built from the moment Manx entered the shop to the moment they returned to the Koneko to lick their wounds. That was often followed by the silence of exhaustion, the 'treat me and let me sleep' kind that transmitted weariness with every breath. Finally, there was the cold silence of anger or disgust, depending on the level of irritation. That silence meant that the walls were up, the eyes unreadable, and nothing could rouse him from it short of time or a mission.

That last silence was what greeted Yohji now, and had for the last week. Yohji sighed quietly, leaning on the counter as dark clouds rolled in the afternoon sky.

It was his own fault, really.

The two older Weiss members had forged a quiet friendship over the many months. Yohji had taken to bringing a bottle of sake in after missions, and sometimes Aya was in the mood to sit and drink with him. The isolation of their work made Yohji starved for real companionship, and the redhead seemed to need the occasional human contact as well. Gradually, Aya had warmed up during the nocturnal visits, commenting on Yohji's stories or sharing quiet ones of his own.

More and more, they sought each other out on non-mission nights. A movie in the basement, a quiet night of reading and sporadic conversation, or just a companion to watch the night pass. Yohji went out less, the infrequent joinings he found at the clubs far less satisfying then a night with Aya.

It was after a few months of going out less and watching Aya more that Yohji realized something had shifted. He had always admired the redhead's untouchable good looks, but he was noticing his eyes tracing those sculpted features more often. Yohji had also treated enough wounds to know that Aya had a very nice body. A package like that could draw any kind of lover, even if the icy demeanor turned them away. Ah, but to have access to the intelligence and dry humor underneath was worth weathering the storm of Aya's personality.

Beyond the physical admiration, Yohji found himself having little tugs of emotion he hadn't felt since Asuka. Protection, possession, admiration, and genuine care for his taciturn teammate. At first he ignored it, passing it off as loneliness. Coupled with the carnal desires stirring inside, denial only worked for so long.

But no matter what he felt, he'd resolved to keep his feelings to himself. He respected Aya too much to go for a quick roll to get it out of his system, not that he was convinced that he could. Aya had his sister to worry about, which took up all his softer emotions. Even though was sure that the redhead's preferences ran towards men, Yohji didn't stand a chance with Aya in a real relationship. There was no point in pushing the man. It would be better to stay friends.

While this was all well and logical, Yohji was a creature of sensation. He couldn't help leaning a little closer over his friend's shoulder as he worked on an arrangement, or subtly brushing his fingers along Ayas as he passed the sake cup. He inhaled the scent of flowers and soap that clung to the redhead in the shop, and the equally enticing smell of leather and steel that he emitted on mission nights. Yohji spent a lot of time with his hand over an aching erection, holding the sweet torture at bay for just a little longer until he came with Aya's name on his lips.

Eventually, Yohji fucked up. As usual. He couldn't seem to hold on to anything good.

The blonde ran a hand through his wavy locks, sighing again. One week had to be enough penance. Aya had to soften eventually.

Yohji glanced towards the door, and seeing no impending customers walked towards the swordsman, purposefully not muting his steps. He saw those sweater-clad shoulders tense and the smooth jaw tighten at his approach. Aya continued to stonily ignore him, remaining seated and working on his arrangement with long, deft fingers.

Yohji stood there for a long moment, willing Aya to look at him. No such luck; Aya had a will without peer.

"I'm sorry."

Hands clenched on the jonquil poised to enter the arrangement.

"What?" Low, deadly, cold.

'Fuck.'

"I'm sorry."

Aya stood up and leveled a brutal glare on Yohji that almost caused him to step back.

"Are you sorry for showing up stinking drunk at my door at four a.m., or for shoving your tongue down my throat?"

Yohji winced. Apparently he was still holding a grudge.

Aya turned towards his arrangement, obviously intent on ignoring Yohji again. Yohji reached out to touch his shoulder.

"Aya, look let me explain-"

The redhead moved faster than Yohji could blink, his wrist suddenly crushed in the swordsman's powerful grip.

"No, let me explain," Aya seethed, anger burning in those amethyst depths. "I will not be one of your quick fucks. Go find a whore if you need it so bad."

The words lanced through the taller assassin. Yohji didn't respond for a moment, caught in that furious gaze. But something flickered under that anger. . . perhaps hurt?

Aya tossed away the wrist he was holding, and started to turn away again.

"I didn't want a quick fuck, Aya."

The words fell like drops of water in the quiet shop. Tension hung between them, sharp and still. Aya stared at him impassively. Yohji opened his mouth to continue, when the shop door jingled.

Manx walked in, all professionalism and purpose.

"Mission. Close up."

Yohji watched their handler exit through the back of the shop towards the mission room. He turned back to Aya, but the redhead had already disappeared.

Great. Now he had to close up by himself and Aya was still mad at him.

~*~

The mission was a little different then the normal 'stalk, kill, blowup' routine. A corporation was suspected of ties to an underground drug ring and a wider drug distribution network. The corporation was apparently stepping up their activities, and needed to be monitored carefully. Weiss needed to infiltrate the heavily secured building, get a program loaded onto the research servers, and get out without being detected. Omi had been unable to get in remotely, so this sleeper program would grant him the access he needed. They were also not to kill anyone.

The infiltration part of the mission caused some small argument. Manx wouldn't let Omi go, both because he was recovering from a nasty rib facture and because he needed to confirm the success of the program remotely. Yohji needled Ken about the mission, insisting the former soccer player would trip over his own feet. He had to vent his frustrations somewhere, and Ken was an easy target. It was about the time that Aya looked ready to skewer both of them that Manx stepped in and ended it.

"Hidaka, stay here and run interference for Omi. Kudoh, you'll divert the guards in the security room so Fujimiya can get the program loaded."

Omi gave the two older assassins their orders as soon as Manx left. The hacker was taking his 'failure' personally and was determined to get into the system. The server they needed access to was in the sub-basement, along with several research labs. Security was on the first floor, a command room with state of the art surveillance watching every part of the building. The shift supervisor changed at midnight, which was when Yohji could immobilize the watchers for long enough for Aya to do his job. The trick was to get in and out without the corporation knowing what happened.

Which led to Aya and Yohji sitting in that stony silence in Aya's Porsche in a garage across from the building. The gray clouds of earlier blackened the night, threatening rain.

Five minutes to show time.

Yohji took one last minute to admire Aya in his mission gear. There was no greater turn-on in the blonde's mind then Aya in leather. Abyssinian was beautiful in a deadly way, all grace and power and sharpness. For once, Yohji didn't try to hide his scrutiny. He didn't think Aya could get more mad at him. He fought the compunction to say something, to try again to clear the air.

He lost.

"Aya-"

"Shut up, Balinese. Not during a mission."

Aya levered himself out of the car with a swirl of leather. Yohji followed quickly. As they approached the back entrance, the redhead gave Yohji one final glare.

"Don't fuck this up."

Before Yohji could answer, the swordsman had swiped the fake keycard, opened the door and the mission had begun.

"Bastard," Yohji mumbled. Balinese slunk off to do his work.

For all the vaunted security of this place, it was ridiculously easy to stun the shift supervisor in the control center. After securing the man, Yohji entered the necessary codes to stop recording of the sub-basement feeds. He also stopped several others to throw off any later investigations.

"Abyssinian, you're clear," he said lowly over the comm unit.

"Affirmative," came the quite response.

Yohji watched the monitors tensely, seeing a flash of coat in a few frames. He deftly blanked the recordings in those cameras using the instructions Omi secured.

Finally, after almost too long, Yohji saw Aya appear at the server room door. Yohji confirmed that the recording was still stopped, and kept his eyes trained on Aya. He saw the redhead punch several sets of numbers, then let out a little breath when he was granted access. Not a moment too soon, as the night rounds turned the corner less than five seconds after the door clicked shut behind Aya.

"You'd think he cuts it close on purpose," Yohji thought wryly, feeling his chest loosen a bit.

The blonde flicked his eyes over the screens, looking for the feed that monitored the server room. Alarm bells sounded in his brain as he failed to find it, or any of the research labs themselves on that floor.

"Abyssinian, is there a camera in your location?"

"Affirmative," came the annoyed response. Aya hated talking during missions.

"There is no feed to this location. You could be compromised."

"Stick to the mission plan, Balinese," Aya warned.

Yohji ignored him and flicked the comm to the emergency band that Omi could hear. It was a dangerous move, as there was the possibility of being caught, but Yohji felt it worth the risk to ensure Aya's safety.

"Bombay, come in."

Omi's surprised tone came weakly over the earpiece.

"Copy, Balinese. What's wrong?"

"Server room and research lab security does not feed to this location. Abyssinian could be compromised."

"One moment."

Yohji began to pace as he waited for Omi's response. There was no unusual guard activity yet, but the patrols were present.

"Balinese, there's a security suite marked at the head of the executive floor. Wiring diagrams suggest the security system could be backed up to that location."

"Where?" Yohji demanded.

"Third floor, off the access stairwell. Your keycard will function. You need to destroy those recordings."

Yohji saw an extra patrol start to head towards the research wing.

"Fuck. Heading off interference and heading upstairs. Balinese out." He switched to local comm.

"Abyssinian, five coming your way. I'm going to divert. There's a second security center to take out on three. Finish objective and meet at rendezvous."

There was a pause.

"Objective completed. I can handle the patrol. Conduct your new objective."

"Like hell," Yohji muttered. There was on way he was letting Aya run into a minimum of two patrols if he could help it. They weren't supposed to be seen at all, and a redheaded swordsman would certainly be remembered.

Thinking fast, Yohji sounded the alerts at the far end of the research wing, hoping to trick the patrol into thinking that the intruder had moved on. He grinned smugly when the patrol hurried past the server room door. He also set the alarms at the front entrance, diverting the patrols away from the stairwell to which he needed access.

"Balinese, what the hell did you do?" Aya sounded furious.

"You're clear. Get out now."

"Balinese," Aya hissed, obviously fuming.

"Going to radio silence."

Yohji flipped off his comm. Seeing the hallways were clear, Yohji slipped out the security room door. After a few tense passages, he made it to the stairwell. He sprinted up the steps, wheezing a bit by the time he hit the third floor landing. Darn cigarettes, costly habit.

He listened at the door, hearing nothing. Following his albeit shaky memory of the blueprints and Omi's instructions, Yohji made his way down a lushly carpeted hallway for a few feet to what he hoped was the right door. He released a breath at seeing the empty control room. A cup of steaming coffee on the counter spoke to a recent occupant.

Yohji worked quickly, locating the hard drive that recorded the server room. He sighed a little when the recording didn't reveal any of Aya's face. This system was a little different than the one downstairs, so the codes weren't working properly. Finally, he took a compact spark explosive designed by Omi to destroy computer data, attached it to the correct drive and stepped back. A small flash and the drive was fried.

'Not much finesse, but it gets the job done.'

He flipped on the comm, and was instantly greeted with Aya's frustrated voice.

"-dammit Balinese, come in."

"Balinese here. You clear?"

"Yes. Get the hell out . There is something going on at the first floor entrance."

"Just a distraction. On my way."

Yohji flipped off his comm unit again, not caring if he pissed the redhead off any further. Aya was out, and it was just a matter of sneaking out as well through the back entrance. The confusion of the guards should last a bit longer.

He opened the security room door, and froze, the guard on the other side stopping as well. Luckily, honed reflexes kicked in, and Yohji clocked the man on the side of the head before he could draw his weapon. Unfortunately, the guard hit a panic button on his vest before Yohji could render him unconscious.

Swearing, Yohji raced down the corridor and yanked open the stairwell door. The time for finesse was past; it was time to run.

As he reached the second floor landing, he heard shouts from the floor below. He yanked open the second floor door and ducked into a maze of cubicles and conference rooms. He heard voices behind him, so angled towards the stairwell on the other side of the floor. Just as he reached it, seven armed guards poured out of the door.

"Get him!" someone shouted.

Yohji spun around, only to see seven more guards come running down the corridor.

"Shit shit shit," Yohji muttered as he got into a fighting stance. He was not the best at close combat, and his wire was better at killing than defending. Hopefully he could do enough damage to break free and make a run for it.

It wasn't pretty. Yohji kicked the first two guards into a few more, knocking them back. He swung at the other side, catching another in the jaw and stomach. He grabbed a chair and threw it towards a group. Just as an opening cleared, two men grabbed his arms and wrestled him to the ground. He kicked out at several legs, knocking a few down in the process.

A rain of blows fell upon him from where he was pinned. Countless kicks in the ribs and legs, hard punches to the gut. One shoe caught him in the temple, and he grayed out for a minute.

The rough hands finally hauled him to his knees and a burly man wound up and punched him in the jaw. The last thing Yohji thought before he passed out was relief that Aya had gotten out unscathed.

~*~

Voices and scattered bits of pain floated in and out of Yohji's awareness. He drifted just below consciousness, everything blissfully muffled. The voices began to get louder, spikes of pain lancing through his body. His survival instincts sluggishly tried to put his mind into some kind of order.

A wave of wet, icy coldness brought him suddenly back to consciousness. He gasped and coughed as frigid water streamed down his face, groaning at the fiery pains that the motions caused. Everything hurt, but the pain in his ribs and face were the worst. Even through his coughing fit, he noted his hands cuffed behind the unyielding beam he sat against and some kind of bindings around his ankles. His jerking motions stilled after a violent shiver. His coat was gone, and it was not warm here. The familiar weight of his watch brought some relief.

"He's awake, boss."

Yohji cracked open his eyes as he lifted his head to lean it against the beam. A large man in a black suit stood holding a dripping bucket in his hand. A similarly dressed man with sunglasses stood not far away, near the door of the small, concrete room. The place looked somewhat dirty and unfinished. 'Bucket' was looking to Yohji's right, so the assassin shifted his eyes in that direction.

A man in a dove gray suit stood frowning at a device in his hand. His suit was obviously more expensive then the thugs', his bearing that of authority and power. He tapped something into the device before slipping it in his pocket. After a moment of consideration, he strode over to where Bucket stood and looked down at Yohji as if he was a bug.

He looked over at the man by the door and twitched his head in Yohji's direction. The thug moved quickly behind the blonde and hauled him upright, nearly dislocating his shoulders in the process. Yohji hissed at the pain the rough motion caused, his ribs burning and all sorts of other places registering new complaints. The world swayed and grayed out for a moment, brought back into sharp focus when the man behind him pulled him back against the metal beam, large hands biting into his biceps. Somehow, he managed to stand on his feet, despite his bound ankles.

'Boss' spent a moment leveling his hard gaze on Yohji. His voice was equally unyielding when he spoke.

"What were you doing in my building." He sounded like someone who was used to being obeyed.

"Sorry," Yohji ground out, voice raw from coughing. "I didn't see anyone's name on it."

Boss' face twitched, and he inclined his head ever so slightly. Bucket set the wet pail on the floor and swiftly backhanded Yohji across his already aching face.

Yep, definitely used to being obeyed. This was going to suck.

"What were you doing in my building." Same tone, harder edge.

"Aside from breaking and entering?"

A small voice in his head wondered if he had a death wish.

Bucket's hand shot out to grab Yohji's neck, slamming his head back against the unyielding beam. For a moment, the only thing that kept him upright was the grip of the man holding his arms. The Boss was in his face a moment later, anger burning in dark eyes.

"I don't have time for games. You and your associate are far too skilled to be ordinary thieves. Who hired you, and what were you after in our security system?"

Gasping around the unyielding grip on his throat, Yohji fought to hold down a spike of panic at the mention of Aya. Of course, the secondary security room did have cameras in the basement server room, so they did know he was there. He wasn't going to get out of this without some bluffing. Hopefully they'd leave him alone long enough to pick the lock on the handcuffs.

The hand tightening around his neck brought him out of his thoughts. Spots danced around his vision until the hand finally moved away. He hung his head for a moment, breathing in the cool air.

Yohji looked up at the Boss, keeping his expression blank.

"We were hired to break in, fuck with security, and get out."

"Who hired you."

Yohji tried to shrug, but couldn't, pinned as he was.

"Some guy. I get a text from a different number each time with instructions. Never seen his face."

"You expect me to believe you?"

"Why the fuck would I lie? I'm sorta at a disadvantage here."

His attitude won him a backhand across the mouth. The motion rocked his head, and he just kept his precarious balance again. Yohji spit blood to the side and glared at Boss and Bucket, but kept silent. Boss looked at him flatly, considering.

"So, you and the redhead are hired to make my security run around, selectively disable our security system, and you don't know why," he intoned doubtfully.

"Lot of freelancers. Harder to trace." Yohji spoke more briefly now, a split lip burning with every word.

"And if I ask your partner, he'll tell me the same thing?"

Yohji's heart missed a beat.
'No way, no fucking way.'

"He would, but he's not here." Yohji worked hard to keep his tone neutral.

Boss smirked.

"Don't be so sure."
'He's gotta be playing me.'

"Prove it."

'He got out, I know he got out.'

Boss reached one finely manicured hand into an inside suit pocket. He withdrew something in his closed fist, and held the hand in front of Yohji's face. He opened it, letting the item dangle between thumb and forefinger.

Aya's earring.

Yohji felt himself go pale. His body moved on autopilot, jerking towards Boss as rage flooded his system. The man holding him upright tightened his grip as Yohji struggled.

"Fucking bastard," Yohji seethed, grunting in pain as the man behind him jerked him back against the beam.

Boss smiled and tossed the earring to the floor next to the beam.

"Don't go anywhere."

At a nod from the Boss, Bucket punched Yohji sharply in the gut. At the same time his arms were released, so he collapsed to the floor in a painful heap, gasping for breath. The world grayed and blurred, and all he could see were feet walking away from him. He couldn't find the breath to speak. The door banging shut echoed through the concrete room.

Yohji lay gasping against the freezing floor for several moments, mind in a panic. They had to be lying. But what about the earring? Yohji was sure Aya had it practically glued to his ear. If they were being played against each other, it meant a world of hurt for both of them. He'd be in even worse shit with Aya if he'd fucked this mission up further.

Gathering his strength, Yohji pulled himself upright. He leaned against the metal beam for several minutes, fighting down the nausea from the pain that motion caused.

'Must've cracked my ribs at some point.'

Everything hurt, but his hands were still functional. He drew his knees up experimentally. Legs still worked too, though were stiff from being bound and on a cold surface for so long. Despite the cold, he was thankful that his coat and gloves were gone. It would be hard to get the cuffs off with his arms restricted by his coat sleeves.

Yohji carefully extracted a firm wire from the band of his watch. It had been designed for this exact purpose. He worked slowly despite the panic rolling through him. His training kicked in, letting him push it down while he focused on what he was doing.

Sharp, burning pain rolled up his arms as he worked on the cuffs. He grit his teeth against the pain, willing his numb fingers to continue.

He almost sobbed in relief when one cuff came free, hands falling limply to his sides. Pins and needles raced up and down his arms. As quickly as his fingers would allow, he opened the other cuff and stripped the tape from around his ankles. Thinking quickly, he wrapped the tape around both palms, allowing him to use his wire without shredding his hands completely. He scooped up Aya's earring and slid it into the pocket of his pants.

Standing carefully, Yohji winced when one of his ankles protested his weight. Must have gotten twisted somewhere. It wasn't bad enough to stop him, but it would slow him down a little. Everything hurt, especially his ribs and face. The cold caused an aching stiffness everywhere else.

Yohji straightened in determination. He had to get the drop on the hired muscle and find Aya. He moved carefully to the wall behind the door, and waited.

Within minutes, voices sounded outside. Someone opened the door, and Yohji sprung into motion. His wire flew out and he jerked the end hard, blood spraying from one of the thug's necks. He didn't even blink as the hot red drops splashed his icy skin. The second ran in, and froze in surprise. That proved to be his undoing. Yohji let the wire sing again, but stopped short of the killing blow. Pulling the wire dangerously tight, he hauled the man against the wall, pressing him against it with his body.

"Where is my partner?" Yohji ground out, voice still shredded from the abuse.

"Partner?" the man gasped, hands desperately trying to keep the wire from cutting further.

"The redhead, where the fuck is he?!"

"He's not here, I don't know," the man stammered.

Biting off a curse, Yohji tightened the wire and finished the job. These assholes had seen his face and Aya's, no-kill mission be damned.

Yohji slumped a little against the wall as the dead weight of the corpse dragged the wire down. He released the deadly filament, noting the cuts on his hands. The tape had helped, but not enough. He pulled a handkerchief from one of the thugs, ripped it in two, and wrapped it awkwardly around the worst bleeding. This was going to suck to clean out later.

He shook his head to clear it. If Aya wasn't being held here, he had to get back to the Koneko so Weiss could find him. Yohji wasn't any good in his current state for reconnaissance.

Limping slightly, he crept out the door of the room he was held in. A vast space filled with concrete and steel beams greeted him. It was obviously a warehouse, under construction. He thought briefly about trying to find Boss to get some information, but discarded the idea. If he wasn't with his two goons, he'd probably left.

Somehow, Yohji found a back door, and quietly made his way out of the building. The sky was dark and cloudy, and it was almost impossible to tell what time it was. He was in the warehouse district, at least a few miles away from the flowershop. With no cash, no phone, and his headset and trackers missing, it looks like he would be in for a trek. Steeling himself against the pain, he wrapped an arm around his aching ribs and started walking.

~*~

At some point between leaving the warehouse district and weaving his way through the city, it started raining. His head spun, his face ached, and the chill that started in the warehouse had settled deeply into his muscles. The cold rain numbed him further, but thankfully washed most of the blood from his skin. He'd have a hard time explaining to anyone why he was covered in splatters.

Thoughts of Aya kept him going. He had increasingly horrific visions of him being beaten, tortured, or worse. Yohji didn't know if he could survive if Aya was killed. Another death of someone he loved would kill him.

Pain became a constant, but the edge kept Yohji conscious. His mind narrowed to one mantra that echoed with each step and kept one foot shuffling in front of the other.

'Get home, get help, get Aya.'

It got darker as the rain steadily poured.
'Get home, get help, get Aya.'

People avoided him, giving him a wide berth.

'Get home, get help, get Aya.'

The familiar neighborhood came into view, even as his vision began to swim.

'Get home, get help, get Aya.'

He stumbled to the back door of the building, leaning on the buzzer as he had no keys.

'Get help, get Aya.'

The door opened, and he went with it, falling into a smaller body.

"Yohji-kun!"

Voices shouted around him, becoming less distinct as his body began shutting down. He fell to his knees, pulling someone down with him.
'Get help, get Aya.'

"Aya. Captured. Help Aya," he slurred, mouth aching as he formed the words.

"Give me a hand Ken, he's delirious."

Yohji curled a hand into a shirt, pulling someone's face closer. He barely noticed the bloody smear his grip left.

"Help Aya," he said louder, panic rushing through him. He had to make them understand!

"Shit, he's bleeding!"

Yohji's head spun as he slumped to the side, not even his knees willing to support him in exhaustion. A strong set of arms caught him before his head hit the ground. As the world narrowed further and further, a blurry pale face with red hair came into view. His mind put face to name before it slipped into darkness.

"A-ya."

~*~

Yohji slowly returned to consciousness again, feeling warm for the first time in what felt like forever. He blinked slowly, focusing on orange bands of light casting across the white ceiling. His brain felt like it was wrapped in cotton. There was something he should be remembering. He raised one hand to his face, wrinkling his brow when he saw the white gauze covering it.

Memory hit him like a truck. Aya! He tried to roll over to get out of bed, but his body protested wildly. Something in his system was making him sluggish, like he was moving through water. He managed to turn his head to the side, and stopped struggling.

Aya sat slumped in Yohji's overstuffed chair, pulled up close to the side of the large bed. His head rested on his chest, one hand dangling over the chair arm, the other lying on the bed. Something let go in Yohji's chest, and something else swelled. Green eyes flicked over the redhead's form, and happily saw no bandages. He inhaled shakily, thanking whoever was listening that Aya was okay.

Carefully, he lifted his other hand, ignoring the protests of his shoulder and ribs, and reached out to touch Aya's. The swordsman's fingers were warm to the touch, and the simple contact soothed Yohji's frayed conscience.

Aya started at the touch, head jerking up with a sudden inhale. Violet eyes locked on Yohji instantly, dark circles marring the pale skin underneath. Aya leaned forward towards the bed, not breaking the light contact between their hands.

"Are you okay?" Yohji said softly, voice rough with sleep and discomfort.

Aya's brows furrowed, confusion written in his gaze.

"I'm fine. They didn't touch me."

It was Yohji's turn to look confused.

"They didn't capture you too?"

Aya shook his head. Yohji closed his eyes and sighed.

"Bastards." Something triggered his memory, and he met Aya's gaze again. "Your earring, it's in my pants pocket."

Aya looked down, and Yohji caught a glint of gold through his red hair.

"So you're really okay?"

Aya's hand curled around Yohji's carefully.

"Idiot. I should be asking you that."

Yohji smiled ruefully.

"I'll be fine. The chibi gave me good shit." Yohji thought for a minute. "How long was I out?"

Something undecipherable passed across Aya's face. His voice was cold as he responded.

"You were missing for 24 hours after the mission. You've been unconscious for more than a day."

Yohji felt stung by the tone. He pulled his hand away slightly, and forced a smile on his aching face.

"I guess I have some time to make up in the flowershop then. I don't want to be accused of slacking."
Aya's face blanked for a minute. He leaned forward, elbows on knees, and carefully took Yohji's hand in both of his. His face was hidden by a crimson curtain. Long moments passed in silence.

"Idiot."

Yohji felt more than heard the words breathed against his skin. His heart dared to hope at the emotion in that hushed word.

He slowly curled his hand and tugged Aya towards him. To his surprise and relief, the man followed, crawling onto the large bed. Aya curled onto his side, lying a breath away from Yohji. The blonde had an unrestricted view of the emotions swirling deep in the redhead's eyes.

"I'm not looking for a quick fuck, Aya," he said, repeating his words from the mission night.

"Aa."

"I meant that kiss, even if I was an idiot."

"I know."

Yohji looked down, eyes fixing on the loops of the redhead's sweater.

"Will you. . . let me do it again sometime?"

A warm finger hooked under Yohji's chin, bringing his eyes up to meet a cool violet gaze.

"Not if you're drunk."

Yohji chuckled weakly, wincing at the tugs in his ribs. He breathed shallowly until the pain subsided.

"How about doped up on pain meds?"

The barest smile pulled at the corner of Aya's lips. He rested his forehead against Yohji's

"Idiot."

"That's me."

Aya closed the distance and kissed him. It made Yohji's face hurt, and his lip split again under the gentle motions, but there was nothing else he'd rather be doing at this moment. Aya kissed him slowly but thoroughly, tongue taking steady possession of his mouth. Yohji found that he had very little breath when Aya finally pulled away.

Aya shifted on the bed, closing the gap between their bodies. Yohji closed his eyes and sighed at the heat and contact. He felt himself drifting, and fought to keep his eyes open.

"Sleep," came the command, softened just slightly.

"Stay?"

Aya looked at him, that undefinable flicker passing over him again.

"Aa."

Yohji settled down into the blankets, getting as close to Aya as he could. He drifted off to the sound of the other man's breathing, and slept without dreams.
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Mine Fields