Wednesday 1.6 - Late in the day

[skyrat13.livejournal.com]

Yohji awoke to a pervading sense of betterness. And yet…at the same time he felt worn completely ragged, as though no matter how much he slept it would never possibly be enough. Ever again. The juxtaposed feelings confused him…for all of the 10 seconds it took before the previous night’s memories broke through the haze of sleep.

Well shit. Was it really possible that all of that stuff had happened in just one night, so few hours ago?

It only took a quick check down his front to confirm a definite yes.

He couldn’t help sparing the empty chair next to his bed a lingering glance as well. He’d fallen asleep aware of it's vacancy. But still….

Yohji abruptly cut off that thought. He was starving and he wasn’t going to get any better if he didn’t eat. If the others had given up monitoring him, then he felt completely justified in getting up.

Assuming he could.

It took him a few tries, but Yohji managed to shakily rise to his feet and stumble across the room. The reflection in his mirror was jarring. Never before had he seen himself look, well, like such an invalid. His skin had a grey cast to it he’d never seen before, and blood had seeped through his bandages while he’d slept. They’d need to be changed, but he’d wait for assistance on that. He realized that he was still wearing part of his mission gear as well; only his coat and shirt had been stripped off the previous night in the rush to treat him. He hastily changed into a clean pair of pants and one of his work shirts, leaving it unbuttoned to avoid aggravating his injury.

The house seemed uncharacteristically quiet for so late in the day. In the kitchen Yohji gratefully found the dregs of some coffee that had been forgotten and left to stagnate in the bottom of the pot. He didn’t bother to heat it up. He collapsed at the table, and as no one was around he decided to take advantage of his chance to light up a cigarette. He had a feeling that he wasn't going to get many chances to do so in the days ahead. Not once the others were watching him again.

It seemed like food could wait a little longer after all.

Comments

[genuinelie.livejournal.com]

His sister flooded the room with energy. It was as if the previous night had been rewritten.

Nevertheless - the events did happen.

She gave little opportunity to dwell on it. Yohji fell easily into swing with his better-known ego, the one that grated on Ran's with very conscious ease. This morning, it was almost a welcome distraction.

"Ran was just about to make me some tea, actually."

Ran bit back a retort about not being his maid, remembering the injuries at the last minute. He settled for nagging. "Put it out. The rest of us value our lungs, Kudoh."

He filled the pot with enough water for them both.

[7bladed.livejournal.com]

Looking into the packed fridge reminded Aya-Chan of their previous encounter in the grocery store. Her mood darkened momentarily, but she quickly moved the memory aside.

After some deliberation, Aya-Chan decided to settle with making some fried rice. It was easy enough, not to mention quick - and here, she paused for a moment to wonder if either Ran or Yohji would've ever eaten anything if she hadn't come downstairs.

She grabbed what she needed and settled herself in front of the stove next to Ran.

[skyrat13.livejournal.com]

Yohji surprised himself by acquiescing to Ran's orders without complaining. He'd intended to put up a fight, despite the fact that smoking had seemed like a rather bad idea, even to him. He lazily stubbed the half smoked cigarette out in his empty cup.

The Kudoh had stung a little, though.

"It's awfully quiet round here," he said just to keep away the anticipated awkward silence, "I don't suppose you're going to tell me the others are still asleep?"

Watching Ran watching Aya-chan made Yohji wonder if he actually shouldn't have left his room after all. He felt like a bit of a third wheel.

He wasn't exactly willing to sacrifice the offered rice, however.

[genuinelie.livejournal.com]

Ran glanced sideways at Aya-chan. She looked intent on what she was doing. "Are you sure fried rice is a safe choice?" He attempted to tease.

It had been one of the first things his mother had taught her to cook. It had also been the first time Ran had seen food catch on fire.

Kudoh was watching him, he felt a familiar sensation of eyes on his back. He saw him out of the corner of his eye when he turned to look at his sister, but was careful not to pause too long.

There was a moment when the man actually looked dejected. He would have asked after Yohji's injuries, but was unwilling to bring it up.

But he was sitting up, and drinking, and was hungry. All good signs.

[skyrat13.livejournal.com]

The nagging feeling of third-wheel-ness intensified as Yohji's comment fell by the wayside, completely unacknowledged.

He couldn't help frowning as Ran inquired after what was obviously some memory that only Aya-chan was savvy to. For a fleeting moment they almost looked like a completely normal pair of siblings.

Yohji had been so busy focusing his jealousy on Aya-chan that it had never occurred to him that he might be jealous of Ran, too. It must be nice to have someone still alive who could actually verify that your past had been real. There wasn't a single person left that might reminisce with Yohji about some nice, but trivial moment before joining Weiβ. This didn't especially bother him. Most of the time.

This particular moment wasn't 'most of the time.'

He pulled his gaze away from Ran and Aya-chan and searched the room, hoping to find a stray newspaper, or some other suitable distraction to absorb himself in.

[7bladed.livejournal.com]

Aya-Chan gave Ran a dirty look and stuck her tongue out childishly. "At least I try," she shot back. "Without me, you'd probably just sit around drinking tea."

She turned a smile towards Yohji. "I think Omi-Kun went to school today," she wrinkled her nose in concentration. "And... I haven't seen Ken-Kun since last night." The mention of 'last night' brought another dark cloud over her happiness, and she quickly turned back to the cooking again.

[plotbunnytiff.livejournal.com]

When Ken woke up the first time, the sun was barely up. He cracked open an eye, taking in the pale, gentle light of dawn streaming through his window with a mild sense of surprise; he’d thought for a wild moment that even the sun would shun him after last night. It was an idiotic but vivid idea.

He sat up, looked down at himself, and frowned. Mission gear soon hit the floor, and a scalding hot shower turned on. Ken stood under the spray, deliberately doing his beat not to think about anything. He narrowed his whole existance down to the water running over him, the soap in his hands, and the pink swirl of old blood running down the drain. Trying to go beyond that made his insides knot in fear.

After drying, putting his dirty clothes where they belonged, and making the bed with fresh sheets, Ken put on a pair of pajama bottoms and sat in the window. He decided to cancel practice with the kids; he didn’t trust himself enough to carry through all right. There was a fleeting moment where he wished he smoked just so he could occupy himself with something that didn’t require a lot of movement.

After a half hour, he finally lay back down and quietly wept. There was no shame in it. He was alone, and he’d cut off his hand before he went to face his team without showing some spine. He messed up so badly that adding cowardice to the list was unacceptable. But he didn’t need to be strong just now.

He didn’t recall falling asleep again, but when he awoke the second time, the sunlight was stronger, brasher, invasively filling the room. Ken got up, dressed, and went downstairs. He heard the sound of voices in the kitchen and had to squelch the impulse to run, hop on his bike and keep riding until he ran out of gas. Instead, he held his head up, steeled himself, and walked into the kitchen. Everyone but Omi was there.

“Hi.”

[genuinelie.livejournal.com]

Ran was frowning at his sister when Ken came in, because her statement of "Without me, you'd probably just sit around drinking tea." was close to what he oftentimes did do.

He took a spot in the corner by the stove, by the cabinets with the mugs, and leaned against the counter. He gave Ken a nod.

[skyrat13.livejournal.com]

Ken's entrance was a welcome reprieve from feeling like an unwanted outsider among the familial exclusivity. Yohji brightened slightly at the distraction.

Although it was difficult to stay cheerful once he'd gotten a better look at Ken's face. His expression made it nearly impossible to ignore the memory of last night's...disaster.

He'd been doing a pretty good job at ignoring it so far though, so he carried on.

"Hey Kenken," he gave a smiling thumbs up, "perfect timing, we're about to score something actually edible. And cooked by a beautiful lady, to boot."

[plotbunnytiff.livejournal.com]

Ken looked from Ran to Yohji, unable to hide the surprise on his face. It was almost the same feeling he got from waking up to the sun. The shock melted into surprise. Ken shifted a little, took another step into the kitchen, and scratched the back of his head with a half grin.

"Oh, thanks." He looked over at Yohji, sending him a silent message of relief and thanks before turning back to Aya-chan.

"Need help? I'm not too bad at cooking simple stuff-" His stomach decided to make a sound like it was possesed by demons.

[7bladed.livejournal.com]

"Nope! No need to help at all." it's funny how acting cheerful and feigning ignorance was so easy to do sometimes. "I'm all done." Aya grabbed a few plates and then set the fried rice in the middle of the table.

This was nice... Aya-Chan wished she could capture this moment forever.

[genuinelie.livejournal.com]

It took a minute for Ran to process Yohji's comment.

"My sister," he informed him icily, "is not a 'beautiful lady'."

He sank into a glare.

This, he noted, again, was why he didn't believe anything Yohji said!

[skyrat13.livejournal.com]

Yohji's jaw dropped.

Did Ran...did Ran just insult Aya-chan?

No...freaking...way.

He quickly recovered.

"I knew you were dense Ran, but I didn't know you were blind." He leaned backward and stroked his chin in mockery of an art critic. "If Aya-chan isn't a beautiful lady," he emphasized this part because the thought that Ran might be disputing the 'lady' half of his statement amused him entirely too much, "then you aren't one of the hottest men in Tokyo. And I think I could find about two hundred school girls who would back me up on that assessmest. You Fujimiyas won the genetic lottery, case closed."

He pushed a strand of hair back behind his ear before crossing his arms over his chest. "So when's that tea gonna be ready?" He added nonchalantly.

[plotbunnytiff.livejournal.com]

Ken paused with his plate halfway towards the rice.

Did Ran actually say what he thought he just said? Woah. He might have been trying to warn Yohji away or something, but it came out as serious foot in mouth disease.

Ken spooned food onto his plate and settled in to eat, watching Yohji flirt with a pleasant sort of amusement. This was nice, and he soaked it all in as eagerly as he ate. It was kind of like the other night with pizza, except Ken wasn't quite ready to jump in yet.

Besides, watching the three of them was like a televison show, and the rice was tasty. So less chat, more eating.

[genuinelie.livejournal.com]

Ran bristled. Ken was smirking into his food, and Yohji made him painfully aware of exactly how that did sound. "That is not what I meant!"

He sunk further into a glare, trying to cover up his embarrassment.

He tried his damnedest to block out Kudoh's other statement. It sounded exactly like what he'd say to a shop girl. The fact that Yohji was injured was still his saving grace, Ran reflected darkly.

The teakettle came to a boil. If the others weren't present he might have made Yohji come and get his own, but he wasn't willing to bring the issue of the mission into the room. He poured two cups, slapped one in front of Yohji, and sat down in the chair by Ken, still glowering.

[skyrat13.livejournal.com]

Yohji found Ran's cat-like bristling so amusing that he had to take a big gulp of tea to stifle his urge to snicker. Laughing at his own provocation would totally ruin the effect.

It seemed like Ran was going to be surprisingly respectful of Yohji's physical disadvantage. At least briefly. He intended to take full advantage of this while it lasted, and that thought cheered him up significantly.

He happily dived into the rice and wasted no time in voicing his approval to Aya-chan.