The Black Cross

Ran came downstairs a half-hour later. He was not out of practice, and the warm-up and brief meditation had served to center him. The conversation with Aya had been pushed to a remote place.

It came back in full force when he saw the table, stopping short. He took it in expressionlessly.

He didn't deserve her. And she certainly didn't deserve this.

One gloved fist clenched. Perhaps this mission would serve to finally remind him that Ran was dead, that there was only Aya, and that the real Aya deserved to have another, fuller life without him...perhaps he needed this reminder as much as it seemed Ken did.

He leaned against the wall, one leg at an angle against it, and tilted his head to the side to block out the carefully prepared food.

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Ken made his way into the kitchen, almost thrumming with palpable energy. He was decked in full mission gear, freshly showered and warmed up. It wasn't uncommon for Ken to exude a pre-mission adrenaline, but this was almost a vigor; he had the air of a well-trained but violent animal waiting on the end of a leash.

He noticed Ran as soon as he walked in the door, but didn't say anything. Idle chatter just seemed out of snyc with what they were about to do, and Ran was never one to really chat to start with.

That flew out of the window when he saw the food sitting untouched on the table. Ken frowned, trying to work out the mystery and failing.

"Who made all this?" The question came out half-directed at Ran and half rhetorical.

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Ran kept his chin tilted away, and down. He didn't look up.

"Aya," he said shortly.

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Ken stared at him blankly for a moment, then looked back at the table. He took a half step away from it; something wasn't *quite* clicking correctly.

"She. That's nice. Is she going to...join us?" It was a clumsy question, but he couldn't express why he felt so ill at ease all of a sudden.

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Ran guessed that Ken was in his mission gear already. The idea of Aya seeing them both with their weapons made him feel queasy.

"No," Ran said roughly.

If Aya wanted to eat with them, or even see them, she would have waited.

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Yohji awoke to a disoriented nagging sensation of stress. He shouldn’t be asleep. In fact, he might have already overslept, and although he couldn’t remember why, Yohji was sure that was a very, very bad thing.

The disorientation began to settle and disperse, leaving Yohji with a whole new bad feeling.

Mission.

A glance at his watch told him that he hadn’t overslept, although he was beginning to cut it close. Wasn’t Ken supposed to have woken him up?

He made his way upstairs and was surprised to find Ran and Ken standing in the kitchen. Usually they all kept to themselves in their rooms in the final half hour or so. Mission preparation certainly never left him feeling very social anyway. Not that Ran and Ken were being very social. The tension in the room was almost tangible.

“Hm, well,” Yohji announced in a loud tone of false irritation, “now I know why you didn’t bother to wake me up. You just wanted to keep all this chow to yourself.”

He leaned against the wall and waited to watch their reactions.

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Ken shook himself out of an oncoming daze and quickly looked down at his watch. "Oh no...I'm sorry Yohji, I didn't forget about you, I just..." Forgot to keep my promise. Again.

He scratched the back of his head and pointed at the food like it was an art exhibit in a gallery. "Aya made this for us," he explained, as if that were the magical answer to any and all questions.

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Yohji couldn't stop himself from shooting Ran a quizzical glance. Then common sense took over and her realized that Ken had been talking about Aya chan. Obviously. Or maybe not so obviously, given his brain's interpretation of that comment.

"That was nice of her..." he tried to recover. It was kind of strange that she would make them food and not be there too, though wasn't it? She was always trying to cultivate a 'family' atmosphere to the best of her ability. Was something wrong?

Another look in Ran's direction made him afraid to ask. Something probably was wrong, to the best Yohji could tell.

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Ran kept his head turned away, steadily ignoring them both.

Since when did Ken apologize to Yohji? Though, apparently, it seemed the best way to get Kudoh to shut up.

He didn't bother jumping into the conversation. It was nice of Aya - too nice - but he couldn't read her motives any better than they could.

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Ran's silence was typical, although it seemed weird that he was not acknowledging the food, if his sister had made it. Why was he still leaning against the wall like a frickin' sentry? Why hadn't Ken sat down at the table yet, at least? The feeling that something was off balance only deepened. The food almost seemed taboo.

He looked at his watch, if only to give him something to do. The mission was inching nearer. If Ran and Ken were actually planning on eating anything, they were running out of time to do it in. Yohji knew better than to touch it before Ran did, however. He walked over to the fridge and poured himself a glace of juice.

"You guys waiting for the sandwich fairy to come and clear the table or something?" He raised an eyebrow inquisitively.

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"Can you try to be less irritating?" Ran snapped, finally looking up. His purple eyes were dark beneath his hair.

He felt his concentration being further whittled away by the extra chatter. His arms tightened across his chest.

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Yohji smiled smugly, pleased to have elicited a reaction from Ran, even if it was a negative one. He stepped closer to where Ran was leaning against the wall, tempted to pry him out of his closed off stance, but not wishing to invite the bodily injury that would solicit.

"Out of all things I had in mind to say," Yohji pointed at Ran, though took care not to touch him, "that was the least irritating."

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Ran looked angrily at him. "Back off."

Tonight was really not a good night for him to be annoyed. Why was it when he asked the man for understanding, he seemed intent on pushing him right over the edge? Did he really just not care?

Ran's eyes flicked across Ken's face again before turning away from them both. They had a mission, and he needed to go into it with a clear mind.

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Ken was contemplating the pros and cons of eating a banana before going out, the snippet of conversation playing in the backgorund as familiar as the sun rising and setting...until Ran's dangerous reply of "Back off" snapped him back into the kitchen, just in time to see Ran glaring in his direction, then turn away.

It made the hackles on the back of Ken's neck rise, and he didn't like it one bit. This wasn't the right time for people to get testy. Ken grabbed the banana (proud that his grip was firm but not crushing)and a sandwich.

"Hey, I need air. Wanna join me, have a smoke?" Get away from Ran before he blows a gasket or I do something equally stupid?

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Yohji kept looking steadily at Ran, not especially bothered by the lash-out. He'd expected to provoke some sort of unfriendly reaction, and it could have been much worse than a simple back off.

He wanted to say no, I won't back off. And no, I don't want to go for a smoke either. But he didn't. Neither did he say, I want to sit down and have a sandwich and talk to you like we're normal people and not counting down the minutes until we snuff out some assholes we've never even seen before.

We said he was lacking in tact?

He gave Ran a strained smile before picking up one of the sandwiches and an orange.

"Yeah, okay," he turned to nod to Ken, "that sounds like a plan."

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