navy = dream
"Jeez, gimme a hand here!" Ken demanded, trying to hold the half-conscious Youji up.
Aya had driven Omi and Youji to the Ko-neko no Sumu Ie with Youji's Super Seven. Ken with his motorcycle had been quicker; he had already taken his bike to the carage and was currently helping Youji out of the car. The older Weiss, his left leg soaked with blood and looking generally bruised, still insisted that with a little support he could walk just fine. Unfortunately the world still spun around him, and the ground was hard to find all of a sudden. Omi ran to help Ken, but Aya ushered him inside to get the first aid kit ready. The redhead could see the guilt in the boy's eyes, and decided that if Omi wanted to fuss over something to ease his heart, then he may as well let him.
"You...trying to break my back... or something?" Youji grinched as Aya and Ken tried to haul him upstairs.
"It's your fault for being so goddamn tall!" Ken snapped.
"Better than being a... a shrimp like... you", Youji replied, and let out a choked half-cough and half-laugh.
"Shut up, both of you", Aya ordered, kicking the door of Youji's room open.
They dropped Youji on his bed and took a deep breath. As soon as they let go of him, Youji sank down on his back, as if it had taken all his energy to keep conscious for so long. Aya went off without a word, most likely to take Seven to the carage. Omi ran in a second later. He dropped the kit on the floor and kneeled down next to Youji's bed. He offered him a glass of water and two pills.
"Painkillers", he said bluntly.
"That was a close one", Ken said, brushing his sweaty bangs off his face.
"The mission, I mean... Man, I'm gonna be bruised for weeks!"
"That bastard...!" Youji growled, starting to unzip his assassin jacket. "What EVER came over me? I couldn't beat one rat of a bodyguard!"
Ken helped him shrug the coat off and threw it casually on a chair. Youji's assassin outfit was pretty plain; without his jacket, no one could know if he was dressed up for a mission or not.
"I wouldn't call him a rat exactly, Youji-kun..." Omi frowned, examining the wound. "He DID give you a good hole in the thigh!"
He took a knife and started to cut the blood-soaked fabric covering the wound.
"Hey, hey, hold it! What are you doing?" Youji's head snapped up as he noticed what Omi was doing. "These are my favourite jeans!"
"Youji-kun, for chrissakes, you're bleeding to death and you have a bullet in your thigh!! Screw one pair of jeans!" Omi snapped.
Ken and Youji both looked at him as if he had gone mad. Omi never snapped at them, and certainly never with so much fury in his voice. Omi looked at them, and then lowered his gaze back down again, groaning in frustration.
"You big dolt", he muttered, his voice choked.
Youji and Ken looked at each other.
"I'll, uh, go take this outfit off..." Ken stuttered, and made a hasty exit.
Ken went to his room, took off his leather jacket and threw it somewhere. Other articles of assassin clothing shared the same fate, and he kicked some trash off his way to get to the closet. He hopped in a pair of worn jeans and then started to look for a shirt of some kind. Unfortunately he had forgotten that it had been Youji's turn to fill the washing machine so of course, everything was still in the laundry bin.
Great.
Finally, Ken found a oversized, marine blue t-shirt which had a picture of a small white kitten in it and which he totally despised. But it was the t-shirt or nothing, so he took a deep breath and put it on. Then he trodded downstairs, his stomach telling him that perhaps a quick midnight snack wouldn't be such a bad idea.
Tomorrow's Valentine's Day, so we don't have to get up early to work anyway...
Silence took over Youji's room right after Ken left. Omi went off to get some water and then started to wash the wound, his usually cheerful face suddenly serious, maybe even depressed.
"Okay, what is this drama show?" Youji inquired after ten agonizing minutes.
"I feel bad, okay? I feel wretched!" Omi blurted out, his voice still somewhat choked. "We're a team, and I just ran off and left you guys alone..."
"You didn't know we had a mission", Youji said, and he would've shrugged if he had been able to sit up.
"Yeah, but... I left you to take care of the shop and..." Omi's voice trailed off.
His hand slowed to a halt. A trail of water and Youji's blood escaped down his arm. Youji tried to brace himself on one arm to get a look at the boy.
"What is this? I never thought of you to be the self-pitying, angsty type. That's Aya's profession."
"I'm not self-pitying!" Omi protested. "I just - I just - I don't know what to think of the fact that none of you is angry with me for what I did! I'm not that useless, I know I'm not!"
"Look, kid, we WERE worried for you. We went looking for you. And we bloody hell almost screwed up the whole mission because we couldn't find you. What more do you want?"
Youji sighed, running his fingers through his messy hair. The painkillers made him feel tired and numb.
"So how come you're not angry with me?" Omi asked, finishing his cleaning. Youji looked at him and a wide, earnest smile radiated at Omi, who blushed at the warmth it expressed.
"Angry with our little Omittchi? 'Course we're not," Youji said softly, and snickered, but it turned into a convulsion of weary coughs.
"You better go to sleep now, Youji-kun", Omi said, smiling sweetly back at him.
"Yeah... you, too..." Youji murmured, his eyes already closed.
He fell asleep in what seemed like seconds. Omi nodded contentedly and got up. Another of the pills he had given to Youji had been a sleeping pill. He looked at his sleeping teammate for a moment, and then turned around and ran downstairs.
"They are NOT burned", Ken insisted to Aya over their smallish kitchen table.
Aya sighed and murmured something under his breath, looking away. Omi arrived in the kitchen just in time to see Ken sit down with a plate full of a little bit burned-looking pancakes in his hand.
"Ken-kun, why are you making pancakes at this time of the night?" Omi asked, blinking in puzzlement.
"I just got hungry", Ken shrugged, gave Aya a hurt look and started to eat a pancake rebelliously. "Here, have one, Omi. And tell him they're NOT burned."
"Hang on a minute, Ken-kun... Aya-kun?"
Omi turned to look at Aya, who was standing next to the kitchen table, wearing his patented black t-shirt and black jeans. He turned to look at the worriedly frowning boy.
"Why didn't we take Youji-kun to a hospital?" Omi asked.
Aya turned his gaze back to the floor and folded his hands on his chest.
"I spotted a car which was following us. If they saw us, it's safer not to take him to a hospital."
"But Aya-kun... His wounds are pretty bad, he needs a doctor. I'm not sure if I can take that bullet off his thigh. And he could get blood poisoning, or..."
"He wasn't mortally wounded", Aya rigidly told him.
Omi hung his head, not knowing what to say. Ken finished the second pancake in silence.
"Do what you consider best. We'll take him to a hospital after a few days if he really is getting worse", Aya concluded and left the room.
"Chotto, Aya-kun...!" Omi tried.
"He gets even worse when he's tired. Wait until tomorrow and ask him again", Ken sighed, offering Omi the plate. "Meanwhile, have a pancake."
Infection. It could be infected. Am I feverish? Feels like it. Must check my other wounds. Do I have any other wounds?
He took off his black bellyshirt and tossed it somewhere. He had slept with his clothes on, and they felt sweaty and suddenly very repulsive. He usually slept in the nude, anyway.
He checked his upper body quickly, but found only a few bruises which looked relatively bad but would probably heal after some time. That was all he managed to do before he had to lie down for a moment. His head was starting to feel a little dizzy. He wished he could find the strength to strip off his pants, which clung to his skin because of the dried blood, and go take a shower. A long, long shower. Youji fell asleep again soon after that thought.
The darkness claimed him as soon as he drifted off to sleep. The air
felt thick and he found himself gasping desperately for air. He felt his damp clothes clung to
his sweaty skin. Where was he? He couldn't reach the ground. Something warm and soft which was
slowly choking him kept him still. He could feel himself yelling, could feel the words form in
his mouth, but no voice came out.
Suddenly he knew. He had to kill whatever it was that held him down. Otherwise it would
kill him. Youji let the wires spin around him. Something hot and wet which could've been blood
splashed on his already damp clothes and he didn't care.
Persia.
Persia's voice, mumbling about a mission he just couldn't make any sense of, so he just
pulled the wires and kept strangling...
Then it was all gone. He was sitting on cold asphalt floor in a small room. He was still
soaked with blood, and he started to shake. He knew Aya and Ken were behind him. He could only
watch, paralyzed, as Omi suddenly appeared out of thin air, throwing a few darts at his
direction. He felt the darts pierce him, but then he noticed that it wasn't actually him they
had been aimed at. The bodyguard fell on the ground right in front of him. Some of his blood
splashed on Youji.
"It isn't your blood, Youji-kun", Omi said, with a sweet, considered voice, looking at
his bloodied hands.
Then he looked up, his blue eyes wide and angelic. "Not your blood at all."
Youji heard Aya's cold voice. "You killed your teammate. How dare you call yourself a
white hunter?" He unsheaded his katana.
"Dark beasts are meant to be killed!" growled Ken, and Youji shielded himself from their
attack, yelling from the top of his lungs, "I DIDN'T KILL HIM!"
But the two didn't even look at him. They moved towards Omi, who looked up at them, still
smiling that sweet smile of his. Aya's sword glinted as it slashed through the air. Ken raised
his clawmitt for a hit.
"Daijoubu... I knew this would happen", Omi said softly, looking straight into Youji's
eyes.
"OMIIIII!!"