Weiss Kreuz Fan Fiction ❯ Darkness Falls ❯ Who Turned The Lights Off? ( Chapter 3 )

Yoshi~! I finally updated something!!!!!!!!!

Warnings: ………. What warning?

Pairing: Undecided

Rating: PG-13

Key: /……\ = voice on the other side of the phone

//……// = thoughts

~~~~*~~~~

Aya mumbled, firmly rubbing the back of his neck, relieving himself of the cramp. He suspects sleeping in a sitting position was the cause of the discomfort. Omi sat across the table from him, staring at the redhead with a queer look.

"Do you want me to massage your neck, Aya-kun?"

"I'm fine!" Aya mumbled his reply, not allowing any eye-contact between him and the boy. Omi sighed, resting his head in hand.

"Face it Aya-kun. You're human." That earned him a harsh glare from the redhead, but Omi simply waved it off, un-effected after a few months of putting up with it. At that moment, Ken walked into the kitchen, stretching his arms above his head; he took a seat in between Aya and Omi, leaning forward on his arms.

"Anything unusual, Ken-kun?" The brunet shook his head, shrugging his shoulders.

"Nothing - nothing disrupted, nothing tampered with. And the window was lock tight, so I don't know." Ken sighed again, leaning back into the chair, arms behind his head. Omi scratched the back of his head, thinking of any possible reason why they had found the eldest member as he was last night.

"Maybe Youji-kun had a nightmare?" Ken gave the boy an odd look.

"Then it must've been one hell of a nightmare to scare him that bad!" Omi pouted, resting his head in both his hands.

"It's just a suggestion..." A long silence hung between the three of them; after a few minutes had gone by, Youji walked around the corner fully dressed and a smile on his face.

"Ohaiyo, minna!" Ken and Omi blinked at the behavior of the older man, waving a hand to show they heard him. Youji nodded, heading over to the counter to fix himself a cup of coffee for the day; Aya noticed the blond was carrying an object in his hand.

"Youji, what are holding?" Youji paused his actions, turning to stare at the redhead holding up the object in his hand. He held up a fairly large, fairly powerful silver color flashlight. Aya blinked at the object.

"What, this? Just a flashlight I found."

"Why do you have a flashlight, Youji-kun? It's not dark out!" The older blond shrugged, continuing on with his task of making coffee.

"You never know when you need it, Omittchi!" Omi pouted at his nickname, almost yelling his head off at the older man for the use of that name. Youji just merely poked at him with the flashlight, a wide smile on his face, succeeding in frustrated the boy more.

Seeing they were forgotten, Aya stood up from his chair and headed down to the shop to prepare for the opening; Ken stayed a moment longer, watching the two blondes bicker. He let out a sigh, standing to his own feet to follow the redhead's example.

~~~~*~~~~

Youji stretched his arms above his head, as Omi said his parts to the last customer of the day. Aya was slowly rotating his head, still trying to relieve himself of the cramp he still had; Ken was busy putting away the last of the plants for closing.

Youji stood outside of the Koneko, watching the sun slowly making its way down to the horizon; his grip on the flashlight tighten, barely even dark yet and already he felt the fear of night settling itself in his chest.

"Mou, Youji-kun! Help clean up!!" Omi yelled from inside; the older man sighed, heading back into the shop to help the boy sweep up the mess inside. A few sweeps and cursing later, they were finally ready to pull down the shutters; just as Youji was about to do the task, a certain female redhead appeared, folder in hand.

"Manx!"

"Konban wa, Weiss. I have a mission for you!"

~~~~*~~~~

"Any to all of the information required is in the folder and on this tape." She held up the tape in her hand, placing the folder in the other hand on the table in front of the four men. She walked over to the TV and VCR, pushing the tape in.

"Not all four are required for the mission, so one of you gets to relax for the night." She pressed play on the machine, singling for the lights to be turned off. Ken, being close to the switch, nodded his hand reaching to flip it. When the lights shut off, however, Youji panicked, but kept quiet; he could feel his heart beat increase, searching the room widely with his eyes careful not to attract the others attention.

All too soon, he could hear his heart beat, pounding in his ears, his eyes slightly wide with fear; not taking much more of the dark, he whimpered then yelped, holding his head in between his arms.

The lights went back on, and everyone stared at the older blond hiding his face in his arms. Omi moved to Youji's side, shaking him slightly on the shoulder.

"Youji-kun, daijoubu ka?" Youji slowly looked up, seeing that the lights were back on again, and that he had every single person's eye on him. He slowly calmed himself down, apologizing for his behavior just a few minutes ago; Manx only nodded, but kept the thought in mind as she continued on with her instruction.

After the explaining was done, it was time to chose which three were going and the lucky one who would be staying home tonight. Aya had the first say, agreeing as he always did for missions; there were a few votes directed to Youji, but he put all down refusing to leave the house.

"Demo, Youji-kun! You haven't done a mission in a while!! It's not going to look good on the record!!"

"Omi's right you know! Now, let's go Yo-tan!" The older man still refused, burying his head again in his arms, trying to block out their voices. Ken and Omi both opened their mouths when Manx cut them off.

"Balinese is not going anywhere!!! Bombay, Siberian you're going - now get!" The two youngest members looked at the redhead with wide eyes of disbelief; Aya went to get ready, dragging the two half-shocked members with him. Youji looked up at Manx with a confused look; she smiled gently at him, seating herself down next to him.

"...Manx?"

"You can thank me later! Now - tell me... what's bothering you?" Youji looked down to the floor, feeling around for the flashlight he had earlier today on the couch; he found it and held it tightly in his grasp. He wasn't sure where to start or even if he should start at all; he couldn't talk to Manx, even if this was sort of like a dream opportunity, he couldn't talk to her the way he wanted to.

"Betsu ni..."

"Nothing? You're sure?" She asked, trying to look at the blond's face for eye-contact; Youji nodded, gazing off in the opposite direction. Manx stayed a moment longer before standing up to her feet; she gave him one last look before heading upstairs to leave.

~~~~*~~~~

Youji rocked himself back and forth on the couch, knees to his chest; it had been two hours since the others had left for the mission, leaving him with the house to himself. After the others had left, Youji went around the entire household turning on every single light that was available to him. When he was done, the blond seated himself on the couch turning the TV on for noise sake, a distraction.

// Calm down, calm down! She can't get you in the light - light is good... //

Youji had already taken his daily prescription, but it hadn't helped him one bit, he was too jumpy to allow the medication to settle. He stared at the screen, wondering what he was watching - if was anything horror or supernatural he wouldn't watch, his mind was filled with too many thoughts of what lies in the dark. Huddling himself impossibly close, he whimpered, wishing he could talk to someone.

He head suddenly perked up, as realization dawned on him - there was someone he could talk to, someone he hadn't heard from in a very, very long time. He reached for the wireless phone on one of the end tables near, first thinking about the number before punching it in; he waited for someone to pick up the phone. After a few rings, a female voice answered the call.

/ "Hello?" \

"Hi Carmen."

/ "... Youji?! What are you still doing up?? Isn't it like - 11pm over there?!" \

"It's only 10:36, Carmen. Anyway, is my sister there?"

/ "Hmm, sorry, you just missed her. She left for work not to long ago." \

"Thanks Carmen."

/ "Anytime! Bye!" \ Youji smiled as he heard her hang up; he could tell she was smiling on the other, he could hear it in her voice. Canceling the number, he type in a different one, hoping it could answered easily; the phone rang for several minutes before someone had finally answered.

/ "Hello?" \ The voice sounded rushed and uneven, as if the person on the other end had running, or just panicked to get the phone answered. Youji smiled gently.

"Ohaiyo, o-nee-chan..."

/ "Youji? Nan - what?" \ Youji laughed slightly at the surprise in his sister's voice; it was rare that Reina every got emotional or excited over things lately.

"Hai, how have you been?"

/ "Ah, fine. Though business isn't going so good; I'm still waiting on that damn partner of mine to... aren't you suppose to be in bed?" \ Youji pouted, hearing the frown in his sister's voice.

"O-nee-chan, I'm not a baby anymore!!"

/ "You're acting like one now! Something wrong, Youji?" \ He could hear the worry in her voice; Reina always knew something was wrong whenever he acted childish or sounded like a child. Youji gulped, turning down the volume of the TV.

"She's after me again - she's found me and now she is coming for me again..." Youji paused, curling himself back into the tight ball he was in earlier that night.

/ "Youji...?" \

"O-nee-chan - I'm scared!"

/ "Shh, it's okay Youji. O-nee-chan's here; I won't let her harm you in any way! It's okay, I'm here..." \ Youji listened to his sister's words, trying to keep himself from crying at the fear in his chest; slowly he started to calm down as Reina continued to talk to him, speaking gently, loving words to him. She started to softly sing to him a lullaby, one their mother used to sing when they didn't want to sleep.

"Arigatou, o-nee-chan!"

/ "You're very welcome, Youji. I'm always here if you need me. Oyasumi nasai." \

"Oyasumi, o-nee-chan..." The phone clicked, then left him with the dead tone. Wiping away the few tears that slipped out from his eyes, he placed the phone back on it's holder, lying himself down on the couch turning the volume of the TV up again. He watched the images on the screen, his eyes slowly fluttering close as sleep came to him at last.

~~~~*~~~~

Ken dragged himself through the door after the others, wiping the sweat off his face. It had been hot tonight and the three assassins had waited nearly three-four hours for their target to show up. While in the meantime, they had roasted in the heat - maybe except for Omi, who always - nearly always - wore shorts.

"Aya-kun, did you leave the lights on?" The redhead looked at the boy, shaking his head; Omi hummed, turning to Ken. Before he opened his mouth, the brunet cut him off.

"No, I didn't either!"

"Then that leaves one person left..."

"Youji!" Both Aya and Ken said at the same time; Omi nodded, shedding off the two jackets he was wearing and his cap, setting them aside to attend to later. Ken untied the sweater around his waist, shrugging off the thick, heavy brown off his shoulders; Aya pulled off his leather trench coat, katana still in hand.

The three then looked around the area for signs of the last member's presence. After some time, they separated Ken heading upstairs, Aya heading for the kitchen and Omi to the living room. The boy could help but smile at the sight; quietly he signaled the others to take a look. Ken, too, smiled at the sight once he got there.

"Should we wake him up? Or carry him to bed?" Ken whispered, eyeing the sight of the older blond asleep on the couch, one arm under his head as a pillow and the other half -dangling off the couch. Omi shook his head.

"He looks too peaceful - we'll just cover him up and turn the lights off." Ken nodded his head in agreement, Aya just shrugged answering with an `hn' noise. Omi went to retrieve a blanket, carefully covering Youji's slumbering figure; the older man made a noise, subconsciously moving the arm hanging over the edge of the sofa up near his face. Startled, Omi had jumped back a little, but noticed the man was still asleep; sighing, he motioned the others to leave and to leave quietly. They left, turning off the lights Youji had turned on after they had left.

"Oyasumi nasai, Youji-kun!" Omi whispered, a warm smile on his face. He turned to catch up with Ken and Aya at the base of the stairs. Just as they had reached the first few steps, they heard a scream from the darken living room.

"Youji!" Ken and Aya were quicker to react, while Omi still stood there as the redhead and brunet passed him; regaining his senses, the younger blond followed after them to the dark area. Aya flipped the switch, lighting up the room; there sat an awoken and very frighten Youji, gripping tightly on a flashlight with it's light on. Ken went over to the couch, leaning a little way over to see the blond's face.

"Oi, Youji. Daijoubu?" The older man whimpered, small tears streaming down his face, eyes closed tightly. Ken reached a hand out to gently grasp the blond's shoulder; Youji opened his eyes, staring at the brunet with a frightful look. Ken made his way around the couch, seating himself next to the scared man; he had no chance to speak again, when Youji launched himself at the brunet, crying hysterically on his shoulder.

"OI! Youji?!" Ken looked at him with a stern look, feeling slightly embarrassed by the older man's actions. Youji was not known for crying on someone's shoulder, more else a guy's shoulder for that matter; Ken was about to make an attempt to push the blond off when Youji started speaking.

"Who... who the hell... turn off the lights?!" He asked between sobs, his face never once leaving the younger man's shoulder. All three sort of looked to each other with slightly guilty looks.

"Gomen, Youji-kun. We didn't think it would bother you." Youji didn't reply, he kept his face buried in Ken's shoulder, who had completely forgotten about his attempts to push the blond away. Finally, Youji stopped crying, only having an occasional sniffle now and then; he pulled away from Ken, apologizing for the now soaking shoulder. Ken sighed, making an excuse for Youji's comfort.

"It's late, we should really get some rest."

"I don't feel like sleeping..." Youji replied, staring down at the space in front of him; all three stared at him. Ken stood up to his feet, hauling Youji up to his too and walked him up the stairs to his bedroom; Omi and Aya followed after only to go to their own rooms, leaving the brunet to dealing with the eldest member.

Ken opened the blond's door, not surprised that the light was on everywhere. Gently shoving Youji into his room, he settled the blond into his own bed making him lied down on the mattress, but Youji refused sitting back up again. Ken sighed in frustration, his patience much more thinner then normal in his tired state.

"Youji, pleassseee go to sleep! I'm tired and can't stay up with you!"

"Who said you had to?" Ken blinked at the question; Youji looked at him strangely. He was right - Youji was right, no one told Ken he had to stay with the older man, in fact - no one had even thought of it. Which left him wondering.

// Why then am I staying? //

Ken sighed, seeing the point Youji had pointed out to him. Weary and slightly frustrated, Ken left the older man's room, saying good night; he reached for the light switch about to turn it off when Youji made a noise reminding him. The brunet paused, muttering an apology to the blond, closing the door behind him.

Youji stared at the closed door, lying back down on the bed; he reached under his pillow to make sure the flashlight he hidden was still. Feeling the object under his finger tips, he let out a sigh, wrapping his hand tight around the piece.

~~~~*~~~~

Hmm, poor Youji. I pick on him waaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyy too much! ^^;;

Please tell how I'm doing so far; it will be a bit different from the movie, since I need to work my way around to get the parts right. I hope ppl enjoyed this...

Review pls! ;_; Onegai?

Emotional_Hikari